GBag Nation
2nd hour of the G-Bag Nation: Dallas Cowboys COO Stephen Jones joins the Nation to talk Ravens vs Cowboys; NFL News of the Day; Ravens Insider for The Athletic Jeff Zerebec previews Ravens vs Cowboys
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It's our number two of the G-bag nation here on your home of the Cowboys 105-3. The fan and we are live just down the street from the stadium as we are in Arlington here at Shakertons. It's brought to you by Sagamore Spirit Rywhisky as Stephen Jones joins you now here on the fan and a good afternoon sir, how the heck are you? - Good afternoon guys, looking forward to getting the Sunday and getting the Ravens in town. - Yes, yes, this is an exciting match up and a week after playing a physical offensive front there that use misdirection. Here come the Ravens that also do that. How confident are you that we got some answers this week on defense? - Yeah, I feel good about it. I was with obviously talking with them after practice today and overall thought we really had a good week and know what we need to do to obviously improve upon what happened against what really turns out, really hot Saints team, but got a great week of practice. I think everybody understand how important the execution is on the defensive side of the ball to really execute and do the things that we're trying to get done there. I don't think, I've heard a few things that people are saying alike effort or something like that. I don't think that's the issue as much as it is just executing the defense. And obviously we're getting ready to go against one hell of a Raven football team. I think they're number one in the league and rushing and so that's what we're gonna have to go out and do is execute and be prepared. This is a team that's a really good football team that's owing to and obviously they're looking for that first win and I'm sure pushing, pushing, pushing but we're gonna be pushing, pushing too. And whether it's offense, defensive, special teams, I know Mike had great messaging with our team this week and feel really good, we're gonna go out and play well. - Yeah, I love the conviction that Mike had with the media as far as we're gonna get this fixed. What do you think gives him so much confidence? - I just know we know our football team. I mean, this is a really, I know we got a really good football team and you know, won 12 games last year. I know, you know, people want to group, you know, the Saints game in with the Packers game and say that's our identity that we just obviously don't feel that way in any shape, form or fashion. Feel like we've got a one hell of a football team that needs to, you know, obviously tighten up some things and execute and I think good things are gonna happen to this group. - How are you feeling about that defensive tackle spot right now? Mazi, it looks like, looks at his questionable in the final injury report. - Yeah, I think he's gonna, Mazi's was out there today and looked good and I think he's gonna be ready to roll but obviously we'll see how tomorrow goes. We, you know, pick it back up a little bit more in terms of the way Mike prepares out of the team but feel good Mike, he'll be able to play. - Steven Jones here with you in the G back nation. When it comes to tightening up and executing, how much of that is, you know, getting experience for a team that is, you know, having more rookie starters than you guys have ever had? - Well, I think obviously, you know, we got the offensive line where, you know, I thought we're actually playing well and I think we'll continue to be better. I mean, it's real tough to evaluate a running game when you're playing from behind like we did from start to finish and down multiple scores. So, a lot of the game, it's hard to get in a rhythm with your run game but, you know, I think that offensive line group's doing a great job and then, you know, I just think we got some really good young players between Neland and, you know, obviously Carson is doing a good job force out there. I think he'll step up and play well for us and Marist and, you know, it's just a good group of guys and he classified, you know, if you want to overshot on as a rookie as well because the injury couldn't play last year but we really liked the group. They just got, as I said, they got to tighten it up and execute as them would say and I think good things will happen to this group. - Yeah, but on offense, you're right, this offensive line and I don't know, you know, if the metrics are the end all be all when it comes to giving a score but they say that you're blocking it up really good in the running game and, you know, I wanted to ask there because some of the, say you're blocking it up pretty good and getting significantly less than expected when it comes to yards over expectation. Do you guys feel like you're getting enough from the running back position to take advantage of the holes they're getting? - Well, we'll continue to evaluate that situation. Obviously, as I said, it's tough to, you know, really evaluate anything after two games. We like our group of guys. We obviously, people want to bring up to Alvin Cook and he's obviously not unlike Zeke, been a very successful runner in this league and people want to know when his chance is going to come and certainly, you know, we have all the confidence in the world, Michael, make that call when it's time if he wants to have a little change up there. But I like our group of guys between Zeke and Rico and Deuce and then go down and into that mix. We're convinced our guys are, as you said, I think our offensive line is a solid, solid group and I know this running back group will get into a rhythm running the ball and I think good things will happen. - How important is it to get Jake Ferguson back and what level of him can we expect to see any type of pitch count? And do you guys, in general, do you view him as sort of your second most lethal pass catcher? - Well, he's just so instinctive and then on top of that, he brings that edge to that offense, you know, with his attitude and his play style. It's just outstanding and I thought Steenmaker did one hell of a job last week filling in form, but it'll be great to get another weapon back for Deck and, you know, the biggest thing on the offensive side of the ball, you know, we didn't, you know, we didn't punt the ball till the fourth quarter. I don't think and so, you know, at the end of the day, we're moving the football. We just got to, we got to convert those long drives into touchdowns and, you know, everybody in the organization knows that. The players know that the coaching staff knows it. We're moving the ball well, we just got to, you know, quit kicking field goals as much as we love our field goal kicker and as good as it is, we got to, we got to get touchdowns and let it make those field goals extra points. - Steven, can you kind of walk us through the decision to go coach Carlos Watkins? I know you're having some trouble with some, some injuries and stuff, but was this one of those times that you kind of said, was he maybe the first guy on your list when it came to a, hey, if we have to go get a defensive tackle, that's the guy we're going to go try and get. - Yeah, you know, Brian, we've had Carlos here take a lot of and he's a, you know, really solid guy, you know, in the, in the room. He brings a lot to the, we think he brings a lot to the run game and just, you know, felt Phillips, you know, he's coming off a risk injury and just felt like he wouldn't, you know, 100% in using that risk and, you know, when you're a defensive lineman and you can't use your hands and your arms, that, you know, that show, you know, puts you on the short end of the stick. So Carlos, as you said, Brian, you know, better than anybody, have teams keep their, their, their list and Carlos was at the top of ours and he's on the commander's practice squad and he was a guy that made sense for us to go get. - Steven Jones with us here on the fan, Steven, I mean, the Cowboys fans travel extremely well, but haven't grown up a cowboy fan. It always bothered me when we seemed to get invaded by the opposing team's fans. That certainly happened with the Saints. And apparently the reports are we're gonna get a flock of Ravens fans from Baltimore. Does that bother you when you start to see some of the opposing fans at AT&T? - Well, it happened, you don't love it, but I also understand it. I mean, people who don't get here very often and, you know, we hadn't played the Saints a lot here in this building. And of course, it's an easy, you know, an easy ride for a lot of Saints fans that are, you know, just right across the way in Louisiana. And so we know on occasion that's gonna happen. Obviously we'd prefer to have everybody sitting in that seat a Cowboys fan, but we're certainly the beneficiary of that on the road most of the time in terms of, you know, having large percentages of cowboy fans in opposing team stadiums. So understand it. I mean, you're not gonna ever now and then you're gonna have these teams that hadn't been to AT&T much. They want to experience North Texas and what AT&T stadiums about. But if we had our preference, honestly, no, I'd like 100% of them to be cowboy fans, but also know that can be unrealistic. - If Zim likes to go with the over shown spine Lamar, does he have what it takes to track down maybe the best running quarterback the leagues ever seen? - Yeah, it's hard to put that on anybody. I mean, he certainly, I mean, at two time MVP, I think almost unanimous both times. And, you know, the guy's supremely talented when it comes to moving around. And he's not to mention he's just a great quarterback, but no, if anyone can do it, I'm betting on over shown. He's got the speed, the juice to do what we're gonna ask him to do and I think he'll do a great job doing it. I'm thinking he'll be, have a great day. How do you guys look at running quarterbacks in general or specifically with Dak? I mean, I kind of look at it like it's such a weapon, but you don't wanna get the guy hurt. So I wanna do it as much as it takes to get to the playoffs and then the postseason all bets are off 'cause we just need to win the game. How do you look at it, Steven? - Yeah, I mean, obviously it's a challenge when they're legitimate, like, especially like Lamar. And then on top of that, he can throw the ball. I mean, he's accomplished though in it. But, you know, when you got to count for the quarterback as a true runner, I can tell you, I don't care what defensive coordinator, they'll tell you it's, you know, it's another challenge. And, you know, he's just probably one of the best ever high enough back there and running with the ball in terms of his burst and his explosion and his speed is, you know, you don't see it very often. - Steven, there's an article on ESPN today where they took anonymous individuals from around the NFL and voted on some analytics topics and your cowboys were actually voted as the most improved as it pertains to overall analytics, capability and implementation over the past two years. I'm curious how has that changed the way you guys prepped for games up until Sunday and how has that changed some of the way things go down on Sundays? - Well, analytics is a part of any company now. If you're involved in any business, analytics is important and certainly sports is a no exception. I mean, whether you're talking baseball, another book came out many moons ago, Moneyball, was when people first started getting their hands around it but put their ease and what they did there. But, you know, analytics is an important part. It's not only important for how you evaluate football games and all the things, the tendencies and things that go with it, but it's a huge deal when it comes to evaluations of players and talent and, you know, how you go about it. And that's off to our group. We brought in a guy to run that area force, John Park, who's just outstanding and was just turned out, he wanted to be a cowboy. And I do think he's one of the best in the business and he's put together a good group of people with him that do their job really well. And hopefully, as we go forward, it'll continue. It's paid dividends, I think, in our evaluation process and hopefully it'll eventually get us to where we all want to go with this football team. - Steven, you know, for my pre-game show, I got to do a lot of work, a lot of film work to kind of get ready for it. And I was watching the, you know, the Ravens and the secondary and stuff. And I was thinking that there was going to be some opportunity, potentially, for branding cooks. And I kind of wondered if the organization kind of sees things the same way with, you know, is there some, could be some opportunities for him to make some plays, particularly with how great of a route runner he is. - Yeah, I think Brandon's outstanding. And not only is he a great route runner, he's still, even after his time in the league, he still got rare juice in terms of being able to get over the top. And we certainly, you know, need to take advantage of that when given opportunities. And I know that that has all the confidence in the world in him and certainly getting CD back rolling again. Tobord had a good game last week and Queen Scoonmaker and Ferguson, you know, something like that will creep up on the opposing team, hopefully, and make some big, big plays for us, which we'll need when we play the Ravens here Sunday. - Can't wait, Steven, enjoy your weekend and give them help, we'll be pulling for you. - Appreciate it, always good being home, if you guess. - Salute, there he goes. Steven Jones here with you on your home of the Cowboys, 105-3, the fan, Brian. - Yeah, we're always pulling for you until we have to make our picks. - Yes, man, I would love it if they'd win every game. You know, I want that to happen so much, but I think we've seen-- - It's going to be a real battle this weekend. I mean, it really is. It's, you know, you can be tough on them and they're going to be tough on you. It really is. I'll be interesting to see how the test of wills here. Can you play run defense? Can they run the ball? Can you make them throw the ball? Can they play pass defense against you? I mean, there are some things that you can go through this game and this matchup and feel like that the other team has a clear advantage over the others. I mean, that's why this one's going to be tough. - I mean, maybe I'm off, the Ravens are 0-2, but I feel like they're one of the better 0-2 teams at the time. - They're good. That's a good football team. - They were a toe away from beating the Chiefs and, I mean, last week they could have easily beaten them. - They could be 2-0. - Yeah, they were up 10 in the fourth. They've had struggles with like finding ways to finish games, which is surprising for a Harbaugh team. You would figure they would be able to do this, but they've given up double-digit leads in the fourth. You know, they've given up drives. When they had to have a drive, they haven't exactly been very good at doing that. And so, yeah, it's for all the talent that they have, there are times you're going, man, I can't believe they just did that, you know, in a way of like, well, that cost them the game. - Yeah. - And you feel like they're better codes, talent and all that, and they do something that is just ridiculous and find a way to lose. - I feel like I almost went into a Fred Davis time warp there when I was asking about the running back, but I had awareness, I pulled it together, probably in under 30 seconds, total time elapsed. But anyway, I liked his answer better than I liked Jerry's this morning, where Jerry was like, I don't know what you're talking about, we don't need another runner. He's like, we're going to evaluate this. - Yeah. - You know, we'll get a look at Dalvin whenever Mike wants to, but I like that because shoot, I feel like if you would go get it, just an above average running back, things are going to look dramatically different with your ability to control the clock. - I think as the season goes on, this offensive line is just going to get better with the two rookies, with the other guy. - That's another point, yeah. - I mean, for me, absolutely, that's a position they will have to continue to evaluate. Again, I just think as the Bobby Belt dug in that we had fun with, I think they might kind of be dug in with where they are with that group right now. - I just, you know, there's something, I see the metrics as far as the numbers and things like that for the block plays and the running and all that. But my eyes don't show me that when I watch the tape. You know, and I'm not trying to give the backs of paths here because there have been some holes where they've run to darkness, so they've not made the right cut and, you know, and you're kind of sitting there like, "Oh, that could have been a little bit better," or, "Oh, they chanted the ball to Zeke," and now there's just a sea of brown-sealed jerseys in the hole, or black-saint jerseys all in the hole, and he's just a, he's a tick-slow. - Yeah, and that's the thing about it is, I don't know when you start to talk about metrics if I really believe that one, and I don't know if this is a good run-blocking offensive line. I just, I want to believe it is, but I don't have a feeling because of the sample size, he talked about it, they get behind in the game, they can't run the ball. Early in the early, the first game they did, you know, they just completely shut it down in the first half after that. So I don't know, I mean, if the metrics tell me, "Oh, it's well-blocked plays, watch 15 plays," I think four of them were well-blocked. - Yeah, it's consistent. - In 11 of them, I'm going, I wouldn't consider that a play where the back has a chance. - I think they're so cleanly blocked, they should be like 40, 50 yard runs, and they're going for 40 yards. - Maybe that's the case. - And that's what would change the average. You know, when Tony Pollard was getting over six, it wasn't six in a attempt, it was a bunch of three and a halfs and then an 80. You know, and I don't feel like they're presenting that threat at all, but I mean, after two games, I'd probably go with your film over the metrics. - Yeah, I just feel like to me when you, when, and there have been some plays where they have not blocked it well, and there have been some good plays, but it's such a small size of thinking, wow, if this team really run the football, I have, I don't think they'll be able to run it this weekend, not with what I've seen, how the Ravens played defense. - Was it safe to say though, that Deuce Vaughn and Zeke would not be performing well, even if they had a verifiably good offensive line? - I don't know, because there's a couple of times where Deuce got the ball, it was like a four-yard gain. If Deuce would have maybe bounced it outside, it might have been an eight to 10-yard gain. - Yeah. - You know, so. - See, that's what I'm saying. There's just not enough vision. - It's more quickness. - Yeah, there's, there's that kind of though with Zeke, I think there is a lack of quickness. Now, one of his big plays at last week in the game, he caught a swing from Deck that they said was a run because it was behind the line of scrimmage. It ended up like an eight-yard play, but it's a throw behind the line of scrimmage that they blocked outside, and then he was able to get the eight to 10 yards, and I was like, turn up, turn up, and he just kind of drifts out of bounce, you know? So, I don't know if you, that same play to Vaughn or to Dattle, maybe it's a little bit more of a, maybe you get more credit for it right there. - Well, thanks to Stephen Jones for joining us here every Friday at three o'clock. It's the G-Bag Nation on the fan pregame at what, noon, Sunday, 1230? - 1230, right? - Yeah. - Right on, okay, we're coming back with the NFL news of the day. We'll check what's cooking. - Well, what does Emmett think about these Cowboys is a playoff team, a new King of Trash, Jack, and an unfortunate record watch. - Hey, Mike Villetti here. Host a cash to ticket alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming there are a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? Are you tired of podcasts that claim they hit 80% of the games? When really, they just lose like most of us. Think cash to tickets, the spot for you. We're real, we're transparent, we're having a hell of a good time with it. And we sit there and we're there for the sweat with you guys. We're just trying to figure it out just like you. Follow and listen to Cash the Ticket on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) - It's an excellent nation. - Shootcha, welcome back nation. We are live here in Arlington at Shaker Tins. It's brought to you by Sagamor Spirit Rywiskey. Come say hi, tip your weight staff. They're taking great care of us. Segments brought to you by soda, the state of the art. It's brought to you by the Frankles. Life's unpredictable accidents happen if you're hurt and accident due to somebody's negligence. Call the Frankles for a free consultation, two, one, four or eight, one, seven, three, three, three, 33, 33. Go online to franklefirm.com. We'll chuck. You have our NFL news of the day. - Thank you very much. Oh, I got it. - You better a freaking product with you. - Oh, are you kidding me? You bet I brought it, even though I'm balancing between hotspot, local Wi-Fi, whatever I can find that works in a moment. - Ooh, there you go. - So I apologize for not being in the Zoom right now. I know Carter Freeman's back there like you bleeple. I'm so sorry. I keep trying to open it. It keeps kicking me out. This will get corrected at some point, but let's get some injury news for ya before we get into some audio. The Bears, the Bears have ruled out a wide receiver, Keenan Allen. He's gonna miss a second straight game against the Colts. So no Keenan. And this is after Roma Dunezay's dad's already posting clips of his son getting open. And this is just two games into his career with the Bears and Kayla Williams as his quarterback. - I was gonna ask you guys, this is a record, right? Two games into a career, a parent doing the out of context. They're highlighting their son not getting the ball, not showing anything about the rest of the play, having no idea what is on the plate of the quarterback. My son breaking open. - He was open. - He's there. - Like if you just throw it to my son in every play. - Kayla Williams is pirouetting and spinning and trying to avoid sacks left and right, but hey, Rome was open. And that's all that dad hears about. And that's, you know, a parent right there. - Yeah, no, that's definitely a parent. He had no idea that Kayla Williams was having to pull himself out of Will Anderson's navel at one point during a play. - Gosh. - And he's expecting Roma Dunezay to catch a ball because he's got a half step of separation. - I mean, I heard Kayla was quite the fuzzy navel fan. So I think that's gonna get corrected. I think he throws a touchdown Roma Dunezay. That's my bold prediction for this week. Roma Dunezay, Kayla Williams, they find pater together. We'll relive it on TD2's. - I was just surprised because I always thought Will Anderson had an Audi. I thought that was a party all combined reporting on him. - In fact, I was almost guaranteed that he had an Audi. Somebody told me like three years ago he was an Audi guy. - Maybe we got ball sacked on that one again dude. - It's not the first time we've gotten sacked. All right, Justin Herbert has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain. Chargers are undecided on whether he's gonna play on Sunday. - Oh yeah, come on. Jim Harbaugh is gonna look him in the eyes and he's gonna be like, football is to be played. And Justin's gonna be like, yes sir. And he's gonna get his butt on there on that field. He's gonna get the pads beat up on him, by coach Harbaugh before. - Wait, so it's his ankle as well? Apparently he's got a hand issue too. And Harbaugh's implementing no high fives for the quarterback. That's like a team issue. - Man, now he's got a high ankle sprain. - He had a whole team meeting. - Don't high five the quarterback because he's got some type of sore hands. - Yeah, well, this is one of the monitor heading into Sunday. Now, Joe Nixon's officially not playing. He's doubtful, that means he's out. Hey, if you were like anything like me, sneaky Cam Acres. - Yeah, Cam Acres is gonna get to start. So Cam Acres is poised to start at running back this week. Joe Nixon, doubtful Damian Pierce has a hammy. He is expected to be out as well. So Cam Acres will get the majority of those carries for your Houston Texans. And according to Espin, that's ESPN in France. Bryce Young is open to a potential trade following the benching. Here's some possible landing spots for Bryce Young. Tell me which one you guys like the most. - Edmonton, Saskatchewan. - Excuse me, okay? - I think he would look great in the BC lines. - The dolphins of Miami, the J E T S jets jets jets New York, the Rams of L.A., or the Hawks of Seattle. - This is where I think that every power five school should have the option now with the NIL to have one former player be a guy that is like a celebrity shot, so to speak, for a season. And Alabama could right now, if they wanted to, be like Bryce, and move over to Jalen Moreau. - Like their match up next week against Georgia, you can bring Bryce in back to the back game. - And he can get paid for NIL style, you know? Like everybody wins here. There's, tell me the single person that loses in that scenario other than, of course, you know, I guess it would be Jalen Millrow if he's getting benched for everybody. - Yeah, that would be the single person, Eric. You just answered your own question on that when it would just be Jalen Millrow. Otherwise we're all winners. We'd all kind of love to see that. I think that'd be fantastic. - But it was sad, that's how it went down back in the day. - I wouldn't mind seeing him going with McSex in the Rams in L.A. as the air apparent maybe to Matthew Stafford. If there's anybody that can figure it out, it's McVey or McDaniel, maybe, you know? I've got two guys that I think I'd take Bryce yelling to start forming over Skylar Thompson just to see how it goes. - If, I mean, it totally, what are you giving up for him? I think is a huge question. - And I think it's a day three pick. - Would you take him? Yes, sure, but four, what do you think it's a day three picks? - Yeah, like five, six, seven. - Yeah. - There's no way Carolina's giving up on him for that. - Probably not, but I don't know that they're gonna be getting anything. You know, teams know they're out on him. They've benched him. - San Francisco got it for right now. San Francisco got it for for the very long time. - They're the only team that did. The Cowboys overpaid massively. Look, Zach Wilson, what did he get traded for? Seven. Like all the other quarterbacks that got traded, the Cowboys looked like the Schmucks they gave up a fourth round pick. Nobody else has done that. - Well, 'cause Jerry also got ahead of it a little bit. We got another full season of all those quarterbacks and seeing how bad they were before they got dealt. Jerry got ahead of it with Trey Lance before we knew for sure he was a bag of ass. - And we got a lot of tech saying he's gonna go to the 49ers. Maybe they say, hey, we believe in Bryce. We're gonna rock with him. Bye-bye, Brock Purdy. We're not paying ya. - Makes a lot of sense. - I would love one of these coaches that feels like-- - I'd like to see it. - I'm a QB whisperer guy. - Yeah. - I'd like to see that. - Where's my whisperers at? - The teams you mentioned, I think Miami makes the most sense if they have the draft capital to go get a guy. I'm sure they do, if it's not a lot. Maybe a three is the sweet spot that gets it done. Maybe a two. - No chance you would do that though. - No. - I'm not giving up a two. - I'm not giving up a two or three. - I don't think any team would wanna do that right now. - At most, it would be a four. - That's only if I really had a high evaluation on it. - And I do think a team like Miami, who feels like a team, who in their minds should be competing at least for the playoffs, and now boom, our quarterbacks down. And so maybe out of desperation, thinking you're just a quarterback away, you'd be willing to give up a little bit more. But holy smokes, man, if they give up a two or a three, you're an idiot. - I think I'd give a three. The argument is there that, hey, this is a short guy. He's gonna need good protection, good weapons, stability around him. We have the kind of offense to create space and take advantage of his reading ability and his accuracy. I think Bryce Young could be a winner in Miami, and a three would be a small price to pay for it. - Let me try sneaking a couple audio cuts here before we wrap up NFL News of the day. Here's Emmett Smith on with Kay Adams, the up and Adam show. Cowboys playoff team in your mind, Emmett, just be honest with us. - I'm not sure last week was just a debacle. It just was a debacle, period. And we then rise up like we should have. And maybe we don't have that talented of a football team to rise up and do what people expect. We do have a few injuries here and there, but bottom line is, next man up. And right now, I feel like some of our players, whether it's B on offensive side or even on the defensive front, we could be playing with some, what I would call back in the day, playing B and playing C-gots. So, McCarthy, he has his work cut out for him, Mike Zimmer, has his work cut out for him as well. - Is he the playoff team? - Not for me, they look last week. - Emmett, that's the way he looked last week. - So honest, really. I mean, ever since the Super Bowl run, you know, when he was at Radio Row, I mean, he has just been honest in really echoing the sentiments of the entire fan base. And I agree, the way they looked last week, that is not a playoff team. The schedule is not easy. We're going to find out this week. Can they make any corrections against another team that's going to run the football on you? - I can't believe the Cowboys are a playoff team unless they trade for a running back. Last year, you had the illusion that Tony Pard was still an all-pro level player. The league didn't figure it out until late that he really wasn't that good anymore. And now, you know, it's clear, the offensive approach that you can bring, misdirection and physicality, run it right at them, okay? So, there's narratives that have developed in a blueprint on how to beat the Cowboys that's even worse than last year. You know, I can't imagine them being a playoff team. Unless they go get a runner. And the offensive line is, in fact, as good as what the metrics through two weeks have said when it comes to run blocking. If both those things are true, they could be a playoff team. But if you punt on running back, like Jerry Jones suggested, they are going to this morning, when he joined KMC Masterpiece, your offense isn't viable. The league knows how to stop Dak Prescott. You have one wide receiver. You know, Jake Ferguson was all pro and Tolbert and Brooks were really good wide receiver twos and threes. You might be able to make this work. But the Cowboys couldn't make it work when they had a redundancy. They had a Mari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CD-LAM. And when they couldn't run, their offense was still broken then. And that was with Dalton Schultz. So, they put up 17 points in the playoffs. Now, it's Dak and CD-LAM against the opposition. When you're used to it being like Dak and a pretty loaded passing core, it's not there. And, you know, I just don't know if the Cowboys care to invest a lot to save this season. I think they might think their ceiling is too low to really throw assets at this season to save it. All right, well, we'll get to Cam Taylor-Bridn when he had to say about the commander's offense right before the top 10 at 4-20. There's your NFL News of the day. Thank you, old Chuck. We're live here in Arlington. Thanks to Sagamore Spirit Rywiskey. And we want to salute our host here at Shaker Tins for having us out today. It's an enchanted afternoon. And we'd like for you to join us. Flagtober starts next week. The 2024 Whataburger Flag is on social. You can see it. Jeff Zareback from the athletic is previewing the Ravens. Have a Friday news dump is well coming up at 4 o'clock. And we're back with more here in the G-Bag Nation. Warner has been moved to the 440 this afternoon. As we have a special guest joining us here, Brian Brodus. We'll deliver Crusty's Corner coming up in one hour as Jeff Zareback of the athletic, previewing the Ravens of Baltimore joins us now here on your home of the Cowboys. OK, Jeff's going to join us in just a second. It is a triple bet payoff Friday if you're just joining us. In the 2 o'clock hour, Brodus, in classic Brodus fashion, just housed his edible bet payoff, an entire stick of butter. Despite his former boss, Derek's Eagleton Dallas Cowboys.com warning him that a fraternity brother of his in college went blind temporarily. Temporary blindness, yeah. After eating an entire stick of butter, but Brian was not phased or scared. No, and that time frame of reference there temporarily feels a little bit too vague for me to want to dip my toe in those waters. But Brodus just hit it out the park, man. That was just-- I want nothing to do with that. Totally disgusting. As Jeff Zareback of the athletic joins you now here on 105.3, the fan in a good afternoon, sir, how the heck are you? How are you guys doing? We're doing wonderful. What do we make of these Ravens coming in here? They're Owen too, but there's not a lot of Cowboys fans that are confident that they're going to actually beat Baltimore on Sunday. What's your read on this game? Yeah, I'd say there's not a whole lot of Raven fans that are confident. They're going to beat the Cowboys these here. It's just kind of weird. Obviously, Owen too was a surprise for the Ravens. Not that anybody is surprised they didn't wait an arrow ahead in week one. That's a tough assignment. But to lose a 10-point lead to the Raiders on your home field, sort of prompt some uncomfortable questions about is this team as good as everyone expected to be? What's the upside here? So they said all the right things this week. I don't think they're panicking, but this is the team that hasn't been Owen too in nearly a decade. So they understand they're waiting into must-win territory. And I'd expect they respond accordingly, but they have a lot to figure out. It's just been a very mistake-prone, inconsistent team for two weeks. Jeff, what's the offensive line looking like right now? I looked like Coach was saying he might be moving some parts around. Yeah, that's been sort of a push in the beginning of the season, questioning the guys who were starting. They've been rotating at right tackle because they wanted to kind of ease in. Rookie second round pick, Roger Rosengarten. He did really well when he got a chance against Max Krollsby last week, which could vote for a bigger role for him. The guy that's really been struggling is Raichard Daniel-Philelele. So it wouldn't surprise me if we see more of a rotation at Raichard rather than him getting every snap. So there's a lot of things they could do. They could add some experience there with a guy like Josh Jones who's been on their bench. So I think it's pretty clear with some of the things John Harbaugh's been saying this week that they're going to do some different things there. I don't think it's going to be a massive new look. I mean, you have who you have. But I think some other guys are going to get a shot there on Sunday, even if it's a part of a rotation. Jeff, what's the situation with Marlon Humphrey? And studying the tape of the team seems like they're playing him a lot more at the nickel spot than even I've ever seen him play. And there's something going on that they just trying to get their best guys on the field, trying to get the rookie from Clemson on the field. Why are we getting so much nickel from Humphrey? Yeah, I think that's a big part of it. They view Nate Wiggins as one of their top three corners. Now, he still has to clear concussion protocol. He was in a car accident last week and didn't play on Sunday. But he's been practicing the last couple days of the non-contact jersey. I'd say that one's trending up for this week, which would. You'd probably see a lot of him and Brandon Stevens on the outside and that Marlon Humphrey on the inside. Look, in the last couple of years, Humphrey's kind of been more effective in the slot than he is on the outside. I mean, he's a physical guy. I think inside, get some closer to the ball and the line of scrimmage a little bit. You can get away with a little more contact on the inside rather than if you're on an island out on the outside. But I think overall, the idea is to get your best corners on the field and moving him inside is the way to get the rookie Nate Wiggins more involved. In general, though, are they trying to keep things as much the same as last year without McDonald? Now, with Or is he trying to implement some new things? Yeah, you know, I mean, it's a different team in a lot of ways because they lost only free agents. You know, they left Patrick Queen and they lost Judevi on clowny and they left Geno Stone and they lost Ronald Darby. So you lost four or five guys and almost your entire defensive coaching staff. So there's going to be some changes as a result. But overall, I mean, this is kind of the Ravens defensive philosophy. It wasn't Mike McDonald's philosophy. It was sort of the Ravens defensive philosophy. They want to be versatile. They want to, you know, disguise quarterback. This isn't the blitz heavy defense of Wink Martindale's pass. We don't see that as much. They'll pick their shots more. It's a lot of young players playing. They like to load up the field with DBs because that's kind of been their strongest position group because many DBs out on there is possible and improve the speed a little bit. So, you know, there's been some new wrinkles with that core, but it's not a defense that is radically different. I just don't think they're as deep or as strong in the personnel given all their free agent losses in the off season. Jeff, the metrics will tell you that this team is struggled with pressure and especially struggled with pressure with blitzing. Is that something that you have noticed yourself, just being at the games and evaluating senior life? Are you talking about their offensive struggle to deal with pressure? The defense, the Ravens defense has struggled with the blitz or creating pressures with their defense packages. Yeah, yeah, I think that's fair. You know, I think that's fair and I think that's kind of a little bit expected. I mean, they're, you know, they're playing a bunch of different guys. I think they're still trying to figure out the personnel. Some young guys are getting, you know, kind of, you know, being thrust into bigger roles than maybe was anticipated right away. And, you know, they're the 30 second pass defense in football and, you know, a lot of the attention has been on the secondary because they have so many assets as part of that group, you know, whether it's foot-round picks or long-term deals. But yeah, you know, that's part of it what you brought up. I mean, the pass defense is all three levels. I mean, we've seen their inside linebackers get picked on in coverage. I mean, the Chiefs isolated them all night. You know, we've seen them. We've seen secondary breakouts on the back end. I think a big part of it, just defense, not swaying from your question too much. But I think a big part of it is they need their best players to play like their best players. -Sure. -Rocorn Smith has not played very well the first two games. At least in week one, it might have been his worst game. It was a bit better last week. Kyle Hamilton has been battling stuff. Hasn't been around the football a lot. Numbed in at a BK as, you know, more penalties and sacks right now. So there's some soul search in this week from their defense. They had extra meetings to try to iron some stuff out. It'll be interesting what, you know, what we see from that group because they seem to understand they're not playing up to expectations. -Jeff's Arabic of the athletic here talking Ravens. Do you think it's possible that what we've seen so far from the Ravens defense is what you're going to get for the most part? -I think there's some of that. You know, and again, the biggest storyline that didn't get a ton of attention this offseason involving the Ravens was not just, you know, Mike McDonald was brilliant last year. I mean, he just had the hot hand pretty much all year. They didn't go down the AFC Championship game because of Mike McDonald, that's for sure. But it's like their entire staff. I mean, you know, you have four guys from that staff where either head coaches or defensive coordinators now, you know, with Anthony Weaver in Miami and Dennard Wilson in Tennessee. Obviously, orgs with the Ravens now. A couple other staff members left. There was a huge, you know, brain drain, as they say, from a defensive staff. So this is a lot of ways, the new staff with a bunch of new players. So, you know, this is a group that should be playing better, come, you know, November and December down the homestretch just because they'll be more experienced and people will sort of, you know, be able to find their footing. But I think early, there was an expectation that there would be a little bit of drop off. And it would kind of take a while to get back to playing defensive football as they'd like to be playing it. I think we were all pretty stunned to see the loss last week to the Raiders. I mean, they had a lead and then all of a sudden, here comes Vegas coming back. Has that been an issue under a horrible, just an inability to close out games? I'm sure he's somebody who's there. And what your take is on all that. Yeah, big time issue. I think they've won more fourth quarter leads in recent years than any team in football. You know, I mean, you look at it two ways. One is they pretty much have had a lead most games. I mean, this is a team that is in every game. They rarely get blown out. Most of their games can be won possession. They're in the lead a lot. So, they're doing enough to build leads and to be out in front and be in every game. But they're not doing enough to consistently close games. And, you know, it just sounds simplistic, guys. But they've just not been very clutch in recent years. I know you can go a lot of different ways with that. But just mistakes at the wrong time and not getting that crucial stop late in games or not getting that crucial score late in games. It's been all three facets. And, you know, even last week against the Raiders, you know, the defensive left points in the last four possessions, that that was big. But the offense didn't score. There were last couple possessions and when a couple of three announced their last two, where if they scored points in those drives, they would have had a multi-score lead and they would have won the game. And there's special teams, you know. They had a bad punt in the game. They had a bad decision to take up all the end zone. There's special teams to let them down the fourth quarter, too. So, it's not just one facet. It's kind of been all areas. I mean, when you consistently blow leads, it's usually not one thing. And for them, that's been the case. They just need to be a lot better down the stretch and make winning plays. 'Cause, you know, oftentimes, they've been their own worth enemy in fourth quarter. - Thank you so much, Jeff. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the game. - You as well. Thanks, Scott. - Salute, Jeff Zarebik of the Athletic. They're talking Baltimore Ravens here, Cowboys and Ravens Sunday at 3.30 here on your home of the Cowboys. Okay, we are live here in Arlington at Shakertons and presented by Sagamor Spirit, Ry Wiski. Little bit of a Friday news dump coming up, Chief? - Yes, sir. We wave goodbye to a legend and no one has more at stake this college football weekend than this guy next year in the nation. - Hey, Mike Villetti here, host a cash to ticket alongside my partner, Jim Costa. It's really simple. Are you tired of podcasts claiming they're a bunch of pro betters when they live in their mommy's basement? 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