GBag Nation
2nd hour of the G-Bag Nation: NFL News of the Day; Mavericks Off Season Move Grade; Crusty's Corner: Broaddus takes a look at the Steelers Defense
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Or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides. Located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Englewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out. Head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia sent you, the sharpest ride, affordable, sexy, sharp. - Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. - That's right. It's our number two of the nation. We're talking Mavs with you coming up at 320 right now. NFL News of the day. Here's Wolf Chuck. All right, we got Thursday night football, Bucks and Falcons tonight. Hopefully this ends up being a good football game. Two offenses that might be able to put up some points. NFC South Battle could be between the two teams that are really vying for first place in that division. I'm gonna go in and put my survivor pick. Seahawks over the Giants, 'cause I'm out tomorrow. So you can put that down, Brian. Go in Seahawks over the Giants. - Gotcha, man. - Leak neighbors, iffy. I don't know what they're gonna do on offense without him. So I'm gonna go with Seattle, even though it's a short week. Giants are on a long week. Come on Seahawks, get it done, go Hawks. Brandon Aubrey was named NFC Special Team's Player of the Month for September. It's his third time getting Player of the Month honors. He was absolutely brilliant. 43 total points scored. He was 12 of 13. He was five for five on field goals of 40 plus six of seven on field goals, 50 plus a shout out to Plano's own, Brandon Aubrey, absolutely the weapon and the MVP of your Dallas Cowboys. - Yeah, right now he's the guy. He's the one that you're building it all around, man. - He's gonna end up being the leading scorer in franchise history. - He might be. - Move over him, it's Smith. - Don't you dare say that. - It's for butter. - Shut your mouth right now. - But I do love Brandon Aubrey. - I take that back. - Thank you. I did see a running back that I'd be interested in. - What? - It's gonna be inflated out there in a trade. - Ashton Gentier, you already looking at draft guys? - I mean, I think you're drafting somebody no matter what. Give me a draftable dude. Ashton Gentier, 25th best player currently on Dane Bruggler's list. He might be a first rounder. And if you don't want to take a running back in the first round, then Gentier's probably not in play for you. And I don't think you guys are first round running back guys. And watched about a dozen of his highlights, I'd take him in the third wall shot. - Yeah, yeah, he's not gonna make it there. So if you want to wait on a running back, then you're probably not gonna be on the Gentier train. But the Jags, according to Jeremy Fowler, could start trading inquiries, inquiries. Did I say that correctly? I fixed it. - You were right there. The helpful is leaking confidence. - Yeah. - You'll awkward. - Say it was just a little bit more confident. - Inquiries. - There it is. - Did I nail it? - Yeah. - Inquiries? - Inquiries, I like inquiries. - That's easier to say. Did I make that more challenging on myself? I'm an idiot, I'm sorry. Travis ETN could be available. Now Jags picked up his 2025 fifth year option, just over six million. So you're gonna have him, that's why I think you should still draft a running back, but I think you'd get him for what, two years. And I think Travis ETN's a hell of a back. It's a three down back right there. Catch the ball of the backfield, has burst and speed. That's a good player. I don't know what you have to give up, but I being on that one. - Is he injured guy? - He's young. - He does get primed. - He has been banged up for sure. - He had a pretty darn good year last year. And he's been solid for the Jags this year. I mean, everybody's kind of been struggling for them, but I think he's a hell of a run in the head coach. - Cheers. - You're a guy. - What's he doing? - Yeah, he's probably way better than running back as the Cowboys have. - Oh yeah. - I saw where you're running backs on the injury report with dehydration. - Dautily. - Yeah. - Zeke. - Oh, Zeke's on the injury form for dehydration. - It'll sneak up on, you know, the weather gets a little cooler and you think I'm out of the woods as far as having to over hydrate in the heat. And the next thing you know, boom, you're dehydrated. Having some cramps. - No, you guys aren't, you're not going to go with me. - I'm on it. - On ETN? Hell no, dude. Why would you want injured guy? Why would you want paid guy? Why would you want guy over 25 years old? - Is he over 25? - There's not a lot over. - He is 25. - Let me ask you this. - He has been like a work horse back in the NFL. - What are you, what are you looking at giving up for him? What's your, what pick are you working for? - I would throw out there a four. Maybe at most a three. - Okay. - No, they might not want to do that, but if they're looking to just kind of read you. - I would just click a three. If they're willing to trade them, a three should get it done. - I mean, I prefer a day three pick. - I was just looking at metrics. - Yeah. - And just, just on the, and this is generally the Jaguar's metrics, right? - Rushing in red zone, they're the 30th in the league. Rushing against stacked boxes, they're 19th in the league. Rushing against the light box, they're 6th in the league. - Okay. - That's what we need. So they can, I mean, he's hitting for 4.6 right now. I like the production. I just don't like injured guys or guys that aren't on their rookie deal. You know, we work-- - Well, he's on the rookie deal. - Right, but it's gonna be over. You know, you got what? You got a season and a half left of that. - Yeah, so you make the trade, now I've upgraded it running back, and I still draft a guy. Now, he might be ticked off 'cause I'm not gonna extend him, but... I think that'd be an upgrade if they were willing to play ball with you, but maybe another team wants to give up more. - I think ultimately, what is Travis ETN doing for you this year? Where is he getting you? Is he getting you places that you want to go? - You're putting on the season, you don't want to upgrade it all. - Well-- - We're not upgrading the team, we're done. - To me, it's just why would I give up any sort of assets for something that we just talked about. This is gonna be a great running back draft class. - Yeah, but what is he doing for you this year? I can't draft running back right now. He's immediately the best running back on my team. I've got to legitimate RB1, hopefully the offensive line, because apparently it's blocking well, right? We don't have runners that are picking up the yards they need, he can help that problem. - It could allow you to become more of a ball control offense, protect your defense a little bit. That team's not winning at all, but it might get you into the playoffs. - I'm not in the division. - I'm not against you, but I'd like to see if Dalvin Cook has anything left. - Okay, I mean, okay, let me ask you a question. What do you think the record's gonna be after the San Francisco game? - I think it's best they're looking at what? - Three and four. - Three and four. - I think they're losing to Detroit and San Fran. I think they got a chance to pull off the Steelers game. - So they're gonna be one and two in the next, three and four is what they're gonna be. Does that make you feel like you need to go get, you feel like you're still in it at that point at three and four? I guess you do. - There's a white flag. - Yeah, record wise, you are still in it. Like if you were a team that was your Baltimore and you come out of the game slow-- - Don't you feel like you kind of have to win this division? Don't you feel like the way to get in the playoffs is you're gonna have to win the division? - Yeah, you're not gonna have enough to be a lot quicker. - I mean, like they take sure, no, this team's not winning a Super Bowl, but I don't wanna be crushing them for not building their roster in other ways outside the draft. - You're thinking about him. - You're thinking of him more-- - And then we just don't want them to trade for anybody. You know what I mean? I just think that's a hypocritical way of doing it. Like if they were willing to at least take-- - Don't tell me a hypocrite world check. - Just all of us in general, right? Like 'cause I agree, big picture, I'm with you guys. Like it's probably not the smartest thing to give up any assets 'cause this team's not winning a championship. But at the same time for them to say, "Hey, we're going and trying." That's something that we knocked into. - Oh no, I like what you're doing. I like what you're doing. I'd like to see if Cook comes in here and runs, then it was everybody else that was running back was a problem. But if Cook doesn't get anything, then it's probably the line. It's probably the line in the backs, right? - Right. - So I would like to see, I wouldn't be opposed to just handing the damn ball to Hunter Lipke a bunch. - Yeah, I mean hey, I mean that might be better off than what you're doing. - Dowdle and Lipke to me are your two best options. - So, I think the argument for NTN is you really need a running back and you don't want to go prospecting in the draft. Right now you get a guy who's guaranteed gonna be productive, he's athletic enough, he's skilled enough, he's got what it takes. - Right, that would be the only argument I'd listen to and I need it to be a day three pick. You know, other than that, I guarantee we can get younger, more durable with our second rounder. - Yeah, I'm totally into control, yeah. - But to fix this thing right now, - They had a chance to go get something. - Yeah, yeah, but they probably waited because they know that it's not, you don't want to start burning out or running back when you don't have a great chance to contend. You know, I, you wait. - One of the things that Jerry talked about is that we need to run the ball better or play better run defense. - Yeah. - They didn't heed his words. They really, they still, he still thinks the running backs are good. - You know, you like Zeke? Like what bleeds in his guys? - Got dehydration. - Hey, same draft class is, is Derek Henry? - Zeke. - Yeah. - Yeah, Derek Henry had more rushing yards on one play last week than Zeke has all season. - My God. - Okay, remember that? - I don't think Derek Henry's back. - I don't think Derek Henry's getting dehydrated in the middle of a work week. - I don't think so, he cares too much about himself and his team and the sport. He's got a lot of respect for it all. - I just wondered, how do you get dehydration? I guess the weather, you pretty warm out there. - It can happen. - It can happen. - It can happen. - It can happen. - Yeah. - You know, it doesn't feel hot at night at 92 degrees now. I'm like, wow, this is kind of nice. It's hotter than hell. It's dehydrating you, you know? And if you, if you can sneak up on you. - Luke Keekly talking about how the emotion offense puts stress on a defense. And we did have an excellent conversation with Mark Slayer at the mouth is, but here's Keekly on up and Adams with K, just giving the linebackers perspective. - One of the things we've seen, Luke, just every year there's innovation with motion. Every year you're seeing everybody trying to do the newest thing. One of the things this year that's been interesting, not what Buffalo is doing is nuts. Like the way they've been moving guys around. But to me, what's jumped out, I was talking to Kurt Warner about this the other day, was the speed of motions now. Like dude, it used to be almost like it was an indicator, it's a coverage indicator, you know, kind of mosey along. Like dude, like now they are rolling on motion. - What you think about, all right. So say it's two by two and the slot receiver motions the three by one. You don't, there is no stress on anybody in the second level of the defense for him to get out front side. He's motioning across, make a two by two to three by one. And you're like, he's just gonna move over there. Nickel comes over, Mike and we'll switch. You can figure our rotation. But now it's like, hey, we're playing the San Francisco 49ers and they line up in two by two. And Debo Samuel is running Mach five across the coordination. I don't know if he's getting the ball. I don't know if he's running a pass route. I don't, now I have to get, hey, is this zoom motion? 'Cause if it's zoom, I have to bump. It's just the more speed that happens, pre-snap on the offensive side of the ball, the more stress it puts on a defense. And it makes playing the run game really hard 'cause you can't get downhill. All your movement as a backer is lateral. It's just, it stress on the defense is caused by pre-snap motion and the speed at which they do it. - Yeah, dude, it makes, and that is what that's brought us his favorite linebacker in the last 20 years. Certainly one of the highest football IQs ever. Super beast at the position. Quarterback of the defense, just a football savant. And he's like, yeah, man, this throws you off. This has you going, I mean, even when we watch the games, how many times are you going, wait, I don't, does the running back have the ball? They're pulling away from where they're actually running to. You're like, this is all my usual keys of like just follow the pulling guard. He's gonna take you to the ball. Guess what, that's not true anymore. So many things that were true of just like the staple of just how to play football, how to be a linebacker, not the same anymore. And so you have to see it super quick and then you have to be an extreme athlete all at the same time. Very, very challenging to pull off. - Yeah, and I did think that, you know, when we were talking with Stink on Tuesday, he gave a good rebuttal as to like, maybe why you haven't seen the Cowboys do it. Because it can be a deterrent if all 11 guys aren't on the same page and something goes wrong. And I think you've seen, hey, Jalen Tolbert's a guy that isn't lining up in the right spot at times. Like, do you have the wide receivers that can all be able to utilize motion, running backs are on the same page? You got a rookie left to tackle rookie center. That could be a fair and reasonable excuse as to why the Cowboys haven't done it as much. - Yes, yeah, especially if you don't, if you haven't invested in the coaches who could teach it, you know, you had an identified coaches that can teach it, you know, like back in the day when, you know, you get into the off season and colleges would go visit each other and be like, hey, how do you coach this? How do you teach this? They could turn on the film and watch it. Like McCarthy and Schottenheimer, they could turn on and watch a Shanahan offense. They don't know how to get in the trenches and teach the blocking and the specifics of those techniques. So I think sure you can say the players aren't smart enough to learn it or they're not that type of player. But if the coach doesn't have that on his resume, I don't think you would want to take that challenge on. You might end up looking foolish trying to implement a Shanahan style offense if you don't have any coaches that have ever, you know, installed it. Yeah. Yeah. I just think like if you are, if you're Brian Schottenheimer, if you're Mike McCarthy, you should have been spending the six months off of football, seven, eight months, you should be dedicating yourself to figuring it the heck out. When you're in the barnyard doing pro football focus, acting like you're watching all the Cowboys games, learn something. It's not like it's impossible to learn and go figure it out. It does take a lot of hard work. Yeah. You got to really want to do it. And I can understand if you're somebody who's made a bunch of money in your career and you've already been to the top, why would you want to do it? But then don't put your name in the hat then as it pertains to being a coach candidate then. Yeah, I think it's inexcusable. If it's something that does not start to develop more as the season goes on, but through four weeks. I mean, that was, that was eye opening just to look at both sides of this. But hopefully by the end of the season, it's either implemented more or you've got a new head coach. Lastly, I want to do here Scott Pioli, who won Super Bowls with the Patriots, jumped on Julian Elman's podcast. Great story about you screwing the Jets over when it came to driving a lot. This is a good light. Yeah. You got any Matt Light stories? Oh my God. So Matt Light told us a story about when he was drafted. I'd love to hear your side of that. How we screwed the Jets? Epic. The Jets are picking right before us. The pick right before us called Matt. I said, you're hearing from anybody right now. And he goes, oh yeah, as a matter of fact, I had to click over. I was on with the Jets. They're picking me when they come up. And I said, Matt, here we go. Hang up, but don't tell the Jets who just called him. Just say someone else just called in, wrong number, whatever. Don't tell the Jets that I just called. I hang up. I look at Bill. I said, the Jets pick right before us. So we start calling everybody before that, not getting any action, not getting any action. Call my boy Matt Millen at the lines who's one pick ahead of the Jets. You want to move up. He says, yeah, our guy just went, you know, give us a ham sandwich. Sure enough, we make the trade. Right as the Lions went on the clock. Call Matt Light. I said, Matt, they still got you on hold. He's like, yeah, I said, we'll screw them. We just traded up your new England. Let's go. Right. It was awesome. That's fantastic, dude. Patriots win over again when it comes to just bleeping over the Jets. The past time that never ends, it's amazing. Indeed, talk about domination. We had no idea it was happening off the field as well. All righty, thank you, Wolchok. OK, another Mavericks Thursday here for you. Why they don't get an A+ for their off-season moves. Crusty's corner has a look at the Steelers defense coming up for you at 340. We're back with more sports right here. It's the G-back nation. The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The Sharpest Rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the sharpestrides.com, right from the palm of your hands. Or check other massive inventory in person at the Sharpest Rides, located 2250 South Sea home street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out. Head on over to the SharpestRides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia, sent you. The Sharpest Rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. Doors take us to summers away, or winter adventures, and afternoon getaways. Your dedicated Fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential, because doors were meant to be opened. Visit Fidelity.com/wealth. Investment minimums apply Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, member NYSE SIPC. Presented by T-Mobile, the official wireless partner of Odyssey Sports. With an awesome network and great savings, there's never been a better time to join T-Mobile. Visit your neighborhood store to make the switch today. It's time for Pitch Hit and Run, the official youth skills competition of Major League Baseball. Give the kids in your community a chance to flex their superpowers, and they could earn a trip to the National Finals of the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One. So go ahead. Be the one who powers their dreams, and sign up to host the local Pitch Hit and Run event. It's a free and fun way to promote baseball, softball, and your organization. To learn more, go to pitchhitrun.com. Get on the fam. Welcome back, Gback Nation. Hope you're having a fantastic day. As time now, I'll talk some maps with you. What grade would you give the Dallas Mavericks for this most recent offseason at 877-881153? We'll go to cbsports.com. I actually gave an A grade to two different teams in the West, and I'll have you maybe guess those, and then I'll explain which they were and why. Segment here is brought to you by The Frankles. Life's unpredictable. Accidents happen if you are a loved one, hurt in an accident due to somebody's negligence called The Frankles. Get a free consultation, 2-1-4, or 8-1-7-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3. Jump online to franklefirm.com. Yeah, two teams in the West got an A, and one of them is the team the Mavs faced in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Oh, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City. Yeah, it makes sense. And they were scary already. Yeah. Yeah, they definitely had the talent. And early in that series, it looked like they would overwhelm you just with their physicality, but their lack of probably scoring depth, maybe Chad Holmgren, not quite ready to take that next step. But the reason the CBS Sports gave the Thunder an A, they moved on from Josh Giddy, and they got Alex Caruso, who's one of the best five perimeter defenders in the entire game. They added Isaiah Hartenstein as well, who's a good second big man there to go with Holmgren. Gives him some muscle and some mid-range shooting down there from the big man position. So the Thunder got one of the Western Conference A's for their off season. I think that's fair. I think that's warranted. Did a heck of a job. Got Gordon out of the rotation. Hayward, he was washed. He is excited to retire. But between he and Giddy, they just had guys who could run off the floor and weren't good enough offensive weapons to make up for it. Yeah, even if I'm replacing those guys, it was just addition by subtraction. Yeah. OK, what grade are you giving the Mavs? And what's the other team in the West? Any guesses? That had a great off season with the A? Yep. The A off season. Brian. Who else in the-- I'm looking. This is kind of a sneaky off season. Is it San Antonio? I was thinking of the Spurs, yeah. Yeah, Chris Paul, they think that Chris Paul thing is going to be awesome when they win. You guys would have nailed it. Not only did San Antonio bring in Chris Paul, but they also got Harrison Barnes. Man, I was looking at the Ross-- Yeah, what? I forgot all about the Harrison Barnes edition. That is a nice role player for you. So yeah, they get veteran role players to increase their overall court IQ and veteran leadership. Chris Paul has never seen a teammate he can't boss around. So he will definitely be that coach on the floor. And they got a pick swap with the Kings in 2031. They sent Rob Dillingham to the T-walls for draft picks in the 2030s as well. So they seeded their future. Right around the time, Wimby is moving into his prime. And in six or seven years, they're going to have this windfall of additional first round picks in those two trades with Sacramento and Minnesota. Who are perennial losers? Yeah. I mean, those picks are going to be in the top 10. Yeah, sure we can. Damn it. Wow. And all the weight gain for Wimby as well. I mean, that's quite the addition to the off season. I was really enjoying San Antonio not being relevant. Yeah, you better get this championship in. If you're the maps, you've got a full send for this thing. Because Wimby Niamah, I think, is about to get so good that it's going to be prohibitive. He's like Kevin Durant mixed with a cream at Bill Jabar or something. Yeah, he's just insane. I never-- and a little bit of ET as well. Yeah, I never imagined anybody could be as physically dominant as what Shaq was. And when he hit his prime, it was unfair to watch the league. And people just flailing in their attempts to stop Shaquille and Neil, and nobody could. That's why they won so many championships in a row. But I think Wimby Niamah could dominate it physically just as much. Two-on-one fast breaks are turning it down. We can't score, dude. We got to back up and shoot a three. Yes, just his presence there defensively. It was like, oh, no, we don't have the advantage. Two-on-one isn't an advantage. We're going to need more like four-on-one to feel comfortable here. 9-4-5 says, don't you mean Josh Diddy? Good one. Hey, actually, I think he got sort of off the hook on that, right? You get off the hook, I believe. I think she was like right there at the age. Right there on the cusp, allegedly. Yeah, of adulthood. All righty. So the maps gray, they did not get an A, they get a B, OK? The TLDR is that this is CBS Sports.com offseason grades here. We're getting you set for map season, OK? They upgraded a bit, but it's also way tweaking to their formula, OK? We don't know if this formula is going to work as well. Now, here's what they say. This year's team has to win with offense because it won't be quite as fearsome on defense, especially if Thompson, just by virtue of his stature, needs to start with Doncic and Irving. I think that's a big thing. I would not disagree with that at all. This concept isn't better or worse. It's just different, and the finals against Boston showed why different might have been the goal. Dallas didn't have nearly enough offensive versatility or space to score with the Celtics. And now the maps do. It came at a price, but it was a fair one. So the reason that they're saying that the defense is going to be worse is because Najee Marshall replacing Derek Jones Jr. as your wing stopper. They say not as good as Jones Jr. And Derek did quite well for the maps. But I would-- To me, it's pretty close. It's very close. And I don't know-- and I'm not trying to fud the guy, right? I'm not trying to hate on him in his way out the door or say I'm not trying to home with this thing up. He was terrific on the ball. Off the ball, I don't know if he was helping. Like, the reason Boston's defense was so great. And what's more important in today's game is team defense because of how difficult it is to play on the ball defense without following the guy, right? And I just-- I don't think he played off of his teammates and defended as a group, as well as he was just athletically a gift from God to stay in front of your Shay Gil, just Alexander's, and whoever else you need to. I think I also look at it kind of as a two for one because you also were able to add Quentin Grimes, who's a pit bull off the bench, and is also a quality defender. Yeah. So that's another guy you can throw in there. Because it seemed like any time Boston would substitute, everybody on the floor was still a good defender. The Mavericks would have some guys that clearly this is now on a lineup that is a massive liability. You now added two guys that are good defenders, and you lose one, and then another guy in Tim Hardaway, Jr., that was unplayable. So I think to me, I'm with you. I don't think the gap is as big with Derek Jones, Jr., and Najee as they think. And I think having Quentin Grimes is also a boost to the defense as a whole. Yeah, I don't disagree with that at all. And Najee Marshall will be able to, I think, match up a little bit better with some of the bigger wings that you see. The Jason Tatum and Jalen Browns of the world, these are bigger dudes. And Najee Marshall brings a lot more of that physicality and some of that strength there. So maybe he is a little bit worse off on the ball versus the quicker guys, maybe like a Shay Gilgis or something like that. But when you look at defending the best two players on the Celtics, I think you're better suited with a Najee Marshall there. And then what he's giving you offensively is so much better. And how much better does-- I mean, we talk about what Luca does for other people and making them better and creating open shots. And we see what that effect is going to have for Clay Thompson. I think that's going to be huge. But the Clay Thompson effect on Luca and Kyrie and their ability to be able to get to the rack because of what you said, defense is having to fear guys like Clay Thompson. Whereas Derek Jones Jr, they didn't fear him at all. No. So as good as he was defensively, you were playing with four on offense because they had no respect for him. And Najee Marshall was 38% last year. Maybe he's even better this year in this offense. That's another guy that you have to at least respect. Derek Jones Jr, no respect from the three-point line. And that's the look that I love is Najee Marshall with PJ Washington and Derek Lively because all three of those guys can shoot. I think you might be looking at a five-out situation now that Lively's working on his three-ball. But yes, Najee Marshall's 3-point percentage, the same as Clay Thompson's last year. I don't know if Clay Thompson is going to find himself as a starter and intricate piece. And let's pay respect to his four rings more than we're analyzing what's in the best interest of winning right now. 'Cause his defense might be that bad. And you do need it, that bad. I think that's your closing lineup. I do not believe it's going to involve Clay Thompson. Maybe you'll sub in and out. But they say on Thompson, the upgrade over Hardaway Jr, the version that barely played down the stretch last season is enormous, still a reasonable upgrade on the better version of Hardaway who competed for six-man of the year early in the season. But Dallas didn't need a heat check score. They needed a reliable spacer and they don't come any more reliable than Clay Thompson. Hardaway's ball handling won't be missed as Jaden Hardy is ready to take on a more consistent role if needed. How about Grimes for Josh Green? That's an interesting one we haven't talked a lot about. CBS Sports say could go either way. If Dallas is getting the 2023 Grimes upgrade, he was a far more comfortable shooter, even in New York. The shot creation in Dallas is going to do wonders for him. The more tentative 2024 version that clearly struggled with Dante D'Vincenzo breathing down his neck. That player isn't doing Dallas much good, but this isn't an essential slot anyway. If the Mavs have their druthers, Olivia Max Prosper will be ready for bench three and D minutes anyway. So this is a nice upside swing on a player who theoretically fits in. All righty. So there's a look at those two. The Jones for Marshall. Marshall's the better shooter, not nearly as bouncy. And Luca likes having as many lob threats as possible on the floor. So that's the one spot where maybe you are losing that threat, but Marshall's still big enough and yeah. - Pretty sure he can dunk. - Pretty sure he can dunk. - He might not be the best go-getter at the small forward position that maybe Jones Jr. was, but he's still very viable. - His nickname might not be airplane mode, like Derek Jones Jr. was, but it'll be all right. He can still dunk a basketball. - All righty. It's time now for Crusty's corner, Brian. What's in store for us today, buddy? - Yeah, let's talk about this Pittsburgh Steeler defense. I think there's some areas that you can maybe take advantage of and we'll do that next. - Thank you very much, Lucius. G-Bagnation 105.3, the fan coming up at four o'clock. You'll have a sports hodgepodge with the chief. Right now it's Crusty's corner brought to you by Reliant Air Conditioning. gimmick-free AC Repair and Replacement. Here's Brian. - Thank you very much, Colonel. Thank you very much to Reliant as well. Looking forward to this bet payoff thing tomorrow, I guess. - Looking forward? - Yeah, looking forward to it. - You're a sick man. - Get myself psyched up, put on the coach and gear to jump in the water. - Okay, so you'll get in the water tomorrow, cold plunge it. - You can like slap yourself in the face on the way tomorrow. - Yeah, like the Jaguars player, was it John Henderson? - Jerome, maybe, maybe what? - John. - I think you like John Henderson. - He was used to have the trainers slap him in the face in the locker room right before he ran out of the tunnel. - I used to watch Reggie White do this. - Smack people or get smacked? - No, he would, he would, it was funny. - Crazy. - Reggie was one of the first players I ever remember. And here we are living in Green Bay and it was already cold outside, so he'd go practice and be cold and then he would jump into that cold tub. - Oh, that's diabolical. - He would just sit there and he wouldn't even, I mean, you wouldn't even, like he'd talk to him and he was just like, nothing was wrong. - Couldn't tell that he was shivering. - No, he was just perfectly fine with it. - It's a real man right there. - That's real man. - I didn't even shrivel. - Yeah. (laughing) - So it should be a one of one in that situation. - Just remind me tomorrow. - We built different iron. - When we do this tomorrow. - Yeah? - Remind me to take my phone and my wallet out of my pants. - Okay, please, we'll not remind you. - Yeah, that'd be, that'd make the bet payoff even, even funnier. - I could see myself jumping in this wallet. - Oh yeah, you're all hyped up. - And wallet be the year 50 year old wallet. - My 1986 wallet just, that would be the final battle for it. - Nah, that thing would still be hanging tough. - Who's gonna go first between the two? - Well, I think I'm gonna go first because he wants to outdo my minutes. - He just said he'd jump in there, so if you allow him to do that, then you have the upper hand and you're sitting over the top. - Yeah, that's true. I'm cool either way, man. - Gonna find a way to get it done. All right, Pittsburgh Steelers defense. You guys worried about the Steelers defense? - Yes, absolutely. - What are you worried about? - Worried about TJ Watt. - That front seven, either. - That D line. - Yeah. - And that, I mean, a bunch of-- - Pressures are down by him, by the way. - Well, I saw him wreck a game against the Falcons week one, which was unbelievable. I mean, he's one of the few guys that I think from a defensive standpoint are on the short list, can absolutely ruin your day. - Sure. - And his ability, I think, you talked about a toolbox. He's got a lot of moves in that tool set there to work with, but also Joy Porter Jr. I think is a good corner on the outside. I think they've got Minka Fitzpatrick. They're secondary, he's not bad. - What if I told you that teams just kind of run the ball at TJ Watt with some success? - Sounds about right. - Him? - That's how you should do it. - Yeah, him and neutralize him. - Well, the player that they're going to miss in this game is Alex Hysmith. - Sure. - They're going to miss Hysmith. - 'Cause he takes pressure on the other side and he's a good player too. - He is a really good player. And if you talk about guys that could play the run and rush the pass, the Steelers are built. Steelers are built really too. You know, this is the third game the Cowboys are going to play against an AFC North team. And the one thing, the one thread is they've all got good fronts. They really are. Their defensive fronts are all pretty good. - Yeah, 'cause they got guys that are tough to move out the ball, like you talked about that with Baltimore, but Benton, the Wisconsin guy. - Yeah, I know Benton is really a good player. - And then Cam Hayward has been doing it for decades, feels like. - This is where you actually might have a matchup win. And when I talk about with Cam Hayworth, 'cause he's going to line up the majority of the time over Tyler Smith. - Terrible. - Okay. - So we can match up the circle. - Yeah, so Cam Hayworth is when it comes to pressure from tackles, he's one of the better ones. But you're lining up against a guy that doesn't give up pressures. So that's something you can look forward to in this game. The one thing that they've yet to show is TJ Watt is not going to move over to the right side. - Okay, stationary now, they're not moving him. - No, pre-stationary. - Is that only when Heismith plays or even if Heismith is out? - Heismith, it doesn't matter. - Wow. - Heismith or Herbic, they leave him over on the offenses right side. - Terence Steele have a day. - Yeah, so Terence Steele, teams have done a good job of chipping this guy. And I mentioned running the ball at him. These edges, when people have tossed the ball to the outside or got the ball to the edge and they put big bodies over there, they mash on these guys a little bit. I mean, they run on them. They run on them because they can't hold up on the blocks. Can't get off the blocks like they need to. I mean, there were several times the chargers just said, okay, we're going to run it over here and you're just not going to be able to stop us from running it. - Do you think the Cowboys can do that and stay in blocks and find a way to get success running the ball? - It's going to be, to me, I think it's an easier task to run the ball on these edges than it is to try and run it inside. - All right. - So, but Dallas won't run the ball. Now, maybe they'll do their crack toss stuffs and things like that, you know. And by the way, if they do crack toss, it needs to not be Tolbert. - He'll like, oh my God, watching him block. - Okay, now maybe this is where you get fluently involved. - He was a little bigger guy. - He was blocking on the preseason. - Yeah, you get a bigger guy, but the one thing that the teams were kind of able to do was when they wanted to just be big and take the ball at these edges, these edges will fight to get off blocks, but they had some problems getting off blocks. People try and stay away from them. And the way that these edges make plays is when you don't block them and they run you down from the backside. That's where, that's where, when you watch Watt, and Dallas won't do any much of the read option stuff. They won't, I mean, I don't see them doing that. I mean, they tried to do it the other day, Dak pulled it, they had a negative play. I don't see them trying this at all. But when they play teams that do that, you're gonna get that crash. They get that crash end is what they do. Crash down inside. - Yeah. - But that's how Watt and these guys make plays. They just haul off, run inside, make the tackle, but when teams are trying to kind of bully them a little bit, it's been some problems. I don't know if Dallas would be able to bully them, but that's if you want to. - They also what they did. - Wanna try? - I mean, they've been keeping teams out of the end zone pretty nicely. - Yeah, they've done a nice job with that. How about this for this team though? And I was wondering because you don't see them blitz at all, which plays right into Dak. You know, Dak loves a team that'll blitz him. These guys don't blitz. And I'm sitting there, I'm looking at them, and I'm going, why don't they not blitz? I went and checked it just to make sure. - They're one of five teams in the league. I learned this. One of five teams in the league that when they bring more than four, their pressure rates go down. - Huh, wow. - So they rather just rush four. - They'd rather rush four. - Or do they do like a lot of sim pressures, like the Ravens where they show five or six guys there on the front and then you don't know which four are coming, but it's usually just four. - Nah, it's just four. - They keep it straight up. - Keep it straight up. If they're gonna bring pressure, it's gonna be the safety of one of the linebackers. But they don't do it. Like I was curious because I'm like, I broke it down where I had the capability of looking at all the passes and I look at all the pressures, and all of them are four man pressures. Generally all of them are four man pressures. And I'm thinking, why do they not, they don't blitz? And I checked the numbers and they don't, they just don't. And then I learned that when they bring more than four, they're even worse, their pressure numbers go down. But this is kind of where you're at with this team. Patrick Queen in playing very well for them. - I'll about say to you, give me some Jake Ferguson up the scene with Queen in the mix. - The best linebacker, Peyton Wilson, let me guess. - Peyton Wilson's playing pretty well. - Yeah, not a shock. - Gosh dang. - Peyton Wilson playing pretty well for them, but Queen's not. And I think Queen misses somebody telling him what to do. - Well he does. He wasn't very good until Rokol and Smith got there. - Yeah. - This is a situation when you look at Queen, he's a guy that they, when they give up an explosive play, it's generally because they guess on a route or they jump gaps. And Queen is the most guilty of jumping gaps. So in the running game, he'll be out of position at times because he's jumping a gap, he's trying to guess where the ball's gonna go. But they've got a good player. They've got a good player, Peyton Wilson. He's a rookie, we talked about him. He listened to the draft show, he's got no ACL. He's got multiple shoulder injuries. I mean, he's being held together with tape and bail like 17 surgeries, yeah. But he had been healthy last year at NC State and he wrecked it. - Yeah, he, but he plays well. - 14 surgeries, that's crazy. - All right, they play a ton of zone coverage on you now. - Cover three, right? That's their bread and butter. - That's their bread and butter right there is cover three. And what you can do to these guys too is 'cause they'll play a lot of, out of it, they'll play a lot of zone. So what happens is that they'll give you access and routes. And I don't know, if you're the Steelers, if you're Turtle Austin, here at the defensive coordinator, would you give Dallas any access and routes with the receiving core they have? - No, I'd be bump and run. I mean, I would be all over these dudes. You won't be able to create any separation. Other than of course, CD Lam, he's a guy that you know can create separation. But outside of that, you're not worried about the scheme, creating separation for the guy. And you're not worried about any of these guys not named CD Lam, getting out of press man coverage and creating any separation. So I would just be all up in their grill all day. - Yeah, I don't know if they'll do that. But that's how I would play Dallas. The one thing that I learned without watching, and I don't know if Dallas will do this, you can scheme your guys on their bad players, on their secondary guys. Maybe the, you know, Beanie Bishop, the nickel, just had some problems. Yante Jackson, got some problems in some of the games have watched. - Joy Porter Jr. and Minka are probably two studs, right? - Porter's not playing as well as he did. And what's their hat, what happened is they're having problems with communication on the back end. Chargers hit him on a, he jumped a route. They went, they went a flat and a vertical route. And, and Herbert kind of baked like he was going to throw the flat and Porter jumped the route. Colts with, you know, the Colts got down there. - The Josh Downs on the goal line. - Yeah. - Got on the goal line and Porter and Queen got confused who was, their spacing was bad. And they gave up a touchdown that way. This guy last year, when you started talking about tight window throws, he's one of the best in the league at it. That's not the case right now. So I don't know if you want to mess with Joey Porter a bunch, but Joey Porter playing off and Joey Porter not playing, not communicating is a liability. - Wow. - When it comes to, you know, when he's playing on, I think he's a much better player. - Sorry it wasn't Penn State too, but it sounds like these other two corners they've got. CDLAM definitely can take advantage of them. - They'll bump coverage. And I mean, bump coverage, if you use motion to cross, you can get them, you can get them to bump the coverage outside. So if you take a back outside, they'll just bump the coverage. They won't carry it with the line back with the bump. They'll bump a corner all the way over. So if Dallas is willing to try and motion some guys in the position, they can match up with some guys that maybe give him some favorable looks. - What about kicking Ferguson? You know, you have them in line. Now you flex them out to the slot. Is there some match ups there you like for Fergie? - You get absolutely the thing that you're right about Fitzpatrick. He's really, and Sean Elliott's become a really good player for them. - Yeah, he'll smoke. The safety play I think is pretty good there. But you, there's things I think you can do with porter and zone coverage. And I feel like that Beanie Bishop, the nickel number 31, is a guy that I would try and get a lamb on as much as possible in this game. And maybe do some things to try and mess with Patrick Queen a little bit with him. You know, maybe confuse him a little bit, put him in some coverage. And then you're going to have to find a way to help steal with some chips and things like that. You just can't let, you just can't let Watt go on him one on one. But like I said, losing Alex Highsmith was a big, big, big loss for these guys. - I love it, Brian. Terrific breakdowns every Wednesday and Thursday during the cowboy season of the opponent. It's Krusty's corner, Brachi by Reliant. - Hell of a job, man. I couldn't imagine trying to put together my prediction anymore without hearing these, okay? And I'm very confident. I got an absolute beat on this game. I will deliver that prediction tomorrow at two o'clock start of the show. We'll be live at Southern Leisure Spas and Patio for a flagtober, a football Friday, unlike any other, the iconic Whataburger G bag flag, yours for free. All you have to do is join us, Brian. Have you given your prediction yet? - I did this morning and I get to do it tomorrow for a couple other platforms. So I'll wait till the morning to like, do we do it and we jump in the cold tub or something? - Well, I don't know what time we're cold tub. - I might do the whole show on the cold tub. - Hot takes in the cold tub. - Wow. - If I did the whole show all five hours. - No, yeah, you're going to lose your gout tow is just going to fall right off with frostbite. That actually might be a tradition by subtraction. - We might lose Krusty tomorrow. What are we doing next, chief? We got a sports hodgepodge and it turns out Micah is not good at everything. We have your college football question of the day and apparently Will Smith is more than just a slapper next year in the nation. - The seasons may be changing, but the deals and the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. 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