GBag Nation
Jon Machota on concerns about Cowboys' run defense, plans for DeMarvion Overshown
This podcast is brought to you by Men's Tea Clinic. Men's Tea Clinic is the team I trust with my total wellness optimization, and so should you. Five DFW locations with North Frisco Elder Auto Parkway at Dallas, North Tollway, now open. Call 972-go-men's tea or visit mensteeclinic.com. Post-season baseball is here, and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of Baseball's and Boring, and we're gonna have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players, and coaches, and managers, and fans, and reporters, and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October baseball. So follow baseball as I'm Boring in the free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music) - Yeah, buddy, it's time to hit the expressway. We'll go commercial free to the top every night at this time. John Machota of the Athletic joining us in just a few seconds, okay? Highly esteemed beat rider of America's team. Long time warning news now with the Athletic, and he'll join us in just a second. Segment is brought to you by the on-time experts, and by Cars4Kids, donate your vehicle today at cars4kids.org. Did get a couple of programming announcements there. I heard from Rich Rice over at the Rangers, in a tomorrow at 3.10. Guess who? Rangers players show? Who would you most wanna talk to you right now? - Come on, Rocker. - You got 'em. Let's go! - Let's go! - Yeah, come on, Rocker at 3.10 tomorrow. CY at 4.20 talking about his new contract. By the way, Rocker not throwing until Thursday, if you're wondering, if you're doing the math in the five days, I get a lot of guys to layer in there and stuff, so that's what you're looking at. By the way, salute to Lighter to get another six Ks, like four innings over the weekend. Mark Schlerath will be on with us tomorrow at 4.40, as John Machota from the Athletic joins us now, on a over-reaction Cowboys Monday. John, how the hell are you? - I'm good, I'm ready to overreact. - Come on, let's do it. - It's overreact, John! What did you take away from yesterday's game as far as the overall outlook of this team? Are there issues too big to overcome? - Yeah, that's a good question, because while the team is different, there's different players than there were last season and in previous seasons. It's tough to watch that game and not see some similarities too, whether you want to talk about the Green Bay game or more so for me, that Arizona game last year early in the season. It just doesn't make sense why you can have the high highs that you had on those first two weeks last season and then have that Arizona stinker and then do the same thing. To start this season with, I guess, maybe if the same's go on to be, you know, I don't know, like make the NSC Championship game, maybe look back and go, well, that was just a really good team. I just don't get the sense that that's going to happen and so because of that, you factor all that in and there's parts of it where you're just like, it makes it tough for me to sit here and tell anybody that, yeah, no, I think that this will all get fixed and this team will go make a deep playoff run and get to a Super Bowl and everybody will just look back and laugh at that because that was an outlier game. We've just seen it too many times over the years, particularly the run defense is the biggest thing for me. I just, I really question, you know, the coaches and the players don't want to talk about January, but to me, that's what I judge this team on is what happens in January and I just don't know that I see a run defense happening anytime between now and January that's going to be able to hold up consistently to win multiple playoff games. - And John, I mean, you were there and got to hear what Zim said, I don't know if there was anything that stood out to you from Zimmer's approach to this, thinking he can fix it, but I wonder if this is just, it's a personnel problem. They're just not good enough at defensive tackle. - So I will say this, I'm not a person that, I wasn't around the team covering the team when he was here previously. So since I've covered the NFL, he was, you know, the Viking Tech coach. And so when he was asked questions about today, I will say he does come off as like, you really do believe what he says. Like he is, you know, he is adamant that he's going to get it fixed, he mentioned the whole, you know, getting it fixed back in 2000 when they opened the season and got blown out by the, you know, the Eagles and he got it fixed then and he'll get it fixed again this time. And so we'll see, you know, I specifically asked about the defensive tackle position just because, you know, this isn't like a, oh, the last couple of years, this hasn't been up to, I mean, defensive tackle, it's been a long time since it's been a team strength. And he maintains that they have the guys that he thinks can get it done against the run at defensive tackle. He feels comfortable about that and he thinks that if you can just get these teams to have to be in third, third long situations that their pass rush will take care of itself. And I do believe that it just, I wonder against good teams that really want to run the ball. Like I said, in January, I wonder if they have the guys inside that they can get the job done. - What was the locker room like after the game? - Pretty similar to most losses. I mean, I will say this when you cover a team that's like a Parsons, you're always going to have, like Micah's not going to be a guy that just leaves without talking to the group, you know? And so, Andy's going to give you thoughtful answers. And so when you have some guys like that in the locker room, it's never too bad. I mean, I've covered teams before where you go in and after a loss like that and really no one's talking, you might get like one or two players and that's it. But I mean, most of the guys talked and, you know, Micah's the only one that mentioned the effort. Nobody else I heard had said that, you know, people talked about, I think Eric Hendrick said about, you know, it humbles you and other players talk about it being unacceptable and that. But I will say, I mean, we've heard that stuff before, you know, I mean, I remember that Arizona loss, it was, yeah, maybe we got too high on ourselves and you sit there and you scratch your head and go, you got too high on yourselves, it's two games. You know, you blew up the Jets and the Giants. They're not good teams. How did you get too high on yourself off of those two games? And so, like I said, there's just a lot of stuff that happened in that game that I take the Saints out of it. I know that you guys deal with this a lot with Cowboys fans and when things don't go well, people like to take shots at like, well, the team isn't that talented as them. That team, there is enough talent in that locker room that what happened yesterday should not happen against any team in the league. They shouldn't get blown out by the Chiefs, whoever you want to say is the best team in the league, the Niners, whoever you think it is, nobody should blow them out like that. Nobody should go their first six possessions and just go right down the field and score touchdowns. And real quick, I just want to say, the part that I thought stood out the most is when CD makes that miraculous catch, they get the touchdown, they answer. And it's right back in striking this and you got a ball game. And then the defense gets back on the field and I think they let them go 70 yards, 11 plays. That to me was the most disheartening part. - Yeah, it really felt like the Packers game as John Machota is joining us back to Zim to jump ahead to the Ravens game. He said Micah Parsons could be used as the spy for Lamar Jackson, which is interesting by itself, but also is over shown, not favored by the coaches as much as the fans in media thought maybe he was? What do you say? - Yes, so when I tweeted that out, I've noticed there's been people that have commented that. No, that's not it at all. This is just my take on that. I think that's Zimmer standing at the podium and he doesn't want to tell the Ravens. Over shown is going to be the spy. I will be surprised if over shown is the spy on Lamar Jack. It just worked too well against the Sean Watson and not that he's anywhere near as mobile as Lamar, but more so than a Derek Carr would be. And it isn't about Demarvey and over shown with the coaching staff like them not liking him. It's that they wanted to be more in their base defense yesterday. And because of that, that's where he got more in Maris Lea file. And then the other factors in with it as well is that because over shown has come off that knee injury, I do think there's a little bit of them wanting to not give him a full, the number of reps he would get. Let's say if he was coming in off of like, you know, he had never had the knee injury. I think they're slowly trying to ramp him up. I think that factors in as well. But I'm interested to see Demarvey on over shown next week just because I was stunned at how he couldn't, we just, he was so amazing in that first game. I just thought we would for sure see a handful of like plays where you could notice his speed and it really wasn't there. And I don't think it's an over shown thing as much as I kind of think that the defensive line never really gave the line back. Post season baseball is here and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of baseballs and boring. And we're going to have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players and coaches and managers and fans and reporters and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October baseball. So follow baseballs and boring in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. There's a chance to really eat and do what they do. I think that factored in as well. And so no, I don't think it is anything with the coaches. Now, if he's barely out there against this Ravens team, I'll be, I'll be a little bit more surprised, but no, I still think that they, they think they're expecting a lot of the Marvian over shown this year. John, take your pick. You want to talk about the Cowboys run offense or red zone offense, which one would you like? I'll talk run offense, let's do that. - Okay, this, when you look at this Cowboys run offense, yesterday probably, you know, the game got out of hand, but do you have any confidence at all? If there's anything, is there anything you feel like you can hang your hat on going forward with this run offense? - I do think the offensive line will continue to get better. The more snaps you get with Beevie and Gaiden. And I think they'll figure some things out there. I just, I'm not confident in it. Like, you know, my, my, the top confidence for me would be 2014 with the Marco Murray. I'm just going up the teams I've covered. - Right. - 14 Murray, 16 is equally. It's obviously nowhere near that, you know? But I think it's probably, it's closer to maybe 15 where they come back, they, they let Murray go. And they come back with Darren McFadden and Joseph Randall. And it's not great, but it's still McFadden ends up being the 1,000 yard back. I think Randall met at like 350 yards or something like that. Obviously nowhere near what Murray did. But it was good enough to win, it could win you games if you had a good rest of your team around it. Obviously in 15, they didn't win, Rommel went down. But on this particular team, if you had that run game, I think, I think it's good enough. I think it's good enough that it can, it can get things going to where this team is, is strength is, is, is passing offense, but you're not going to be able to meet the peak of that if you're not running the ball at all. I do think it can get better. And I will say, whether it's Delvin Cook or somebody that's not on the team right now, you can, I think you can add running backs and a pretty low cost. And if it's not working with the group they have right now in another week, two weeks, maybe three weeks, maybe they kick their tires on that. I just think that's more fixable than like when I was talking earlier about the run defense. - John Rashida with us from the athletic here on 105 through the fan. I did wonder, John, and we, Gavin read the quotes from Dak yesterday in the press conference and he was kind of referring to like, man, I kind of wish our offense could do some of that stuff. Think Dak's kind of getting maybe a little frustrated with how this offense is? - That's interesting you say that 'cause I do think it's weird to say this, but as a reporter, there are times where I'll read a quote and then I'll listen to the person say it and I'll have a little bit different feeling off it. So when I read Dak's quote on that, I do think it does sound like that a little bit, but I asked him that question about the defense and being surprised and that was his response to it. And when he was saying the response to me, I took it more as, I don't know what you want me to do here, but I'm not gonna throw this defense under the bus. I gotta say something right now. So let me sit there and say, I wish we could score every single time we went down there because I'm not about to trash our defense because plenty of you guys are gonna do it anyway. That's just the way I took it though. - Jomma showed of the athletic here with you on 105 through the fan. Did you guys pepper shoddy with questions about the Shanahan offense like they were flying at Mike? - He didn't get as much of those as Mike did. And I don't know, I mean, I think it's fair. I mean, it's certainly something that we're seeing around the NFL, but I also wonder with that is, so are we looking at a future where every single team has an offensive coordinator, that offensive head coach that's gonna run that system, it just, I know it's a copycat league, but I feel like none of these trends last forever. So eventually that people are gonna figure that out and then it'll be something else. And so there's just a part with the Cowboys, like, I get that people see that and they're just like, well, why don't we have an offense like that? But there's a part of me that covers the Cowboys and I'm just like, yeah, you know when the Cowboys will turn to that offense, when it's like, that cycle is already coming to an end, you know, instead of catching it at the early stages. 'Cause if you wanna take the Cowboys out of it, I just think of it from a perspective of, as bad as you think the Cowboys are, they're nowhere close to being as bad as Washington's been. And the fact that they had the whole crew on their sideline at one point, I mean, they had their pick, they could have Shanahan, McBae, whatever. I mean, and they let them all out the building. And so there's a part of me that does wonder, I get that they're coming off of this, you know, a bad loss that, you know, that's the thing that needs to change in that. I don't see that as being the issue with this Cowboys team. And I really have for the last few years, it's really been the stinker of the games that particularly happen on defense, that is the reason that I feel that they can't take that next step. - Any idea what the Kim K audible is? - That's a good question. Yeah, I knew when he said that. I was, 'cause I was listening, I've been listening to the game broadcast live on YouTube TV while I'm watching them. So they're probably, you know, about 30 seconds behind. I knew soon as he said that, that that was gonna be a thing. But no, we haven't, we haven't got a chance to ask, and there was no chance I was gonna ask in the post game after that awful of a game. But I'm gonna get to the bottom of it for you guys, 'cause I am interested in that as well. - Yeah, get to the bottom of the Kim K thing, please. It's a John Michyote here with us. What can you tell us about to Zach Martin, Jake Ferguson, and the chances they play against Baltimore? - Probably the best thing that's happened for this team over the first two weeks is that they've been able to dodge injuries that when they happened, they look like they could potentially be, maybe not even, maybe not season ending, but ones where kind of like we've been here in today, whether you talk about Cooper Coppins and these guys where it's like, you know, Christian McCaffrey, he looks like he's gonna be IR out for games. Like, there's just a way that Martin went down yesterday. I was thinking that was the case, and then I thought for sure, when he came out of the injury tent, he'd go right to the locker room and he didn't. And when he got in there, I exercised like, I kind of thought that was kind of a good sign. And then they put him back in that game, and I was like, "Oh yeah, no, that's a really good sign." So it sounds like that they expect him to play this week and that he's not gonna miss any time. And then everything I've heard on Ferguson is that he was close on Sunday, well actually on Saturday when they had their practice, but they wanted to give him a little bit more time. So I fully expect him to be on the field again this Sunday. So fixing the defense, are you trying to trade for a defensive tackle then, or how could you do it and miss what's left of this season? Yeah, I mean, it's a great question, because I just don't think it's doable. And the reason why I say that is because it's defensive tackle, like the elite of the elite, I just feel like it's almost like quarterback work. So there's so few of them. And when I say, I mean, one that you'd immediately plug in, you're like, "No, no, this is fixed." And the problem is that when you've paid the contract to DAC and to CD and you're planning on paying Micah in the future as well, so I don't know if you can be given up the picks that it would take to get a really good defensive tackle that would instantly come in and fix this thing. I'm pretty sure that the Rams have Aaron Donald's rights, even if he decided to come out of retirement. But if there was some way they could work and move there, that's the one I always say to people when people are like, when they give the hypothetical, whether the season started or right now with the whole, well, there's no chance that I'm going to ever believe that the Cowboys are going to be any different. I'm like, "Well, if you woke up one morning and you found out that they got Aaron Donald, I bet you that your tune would change on that." But I still think the Rams own his rights on that. I wish I had a good answer for you, but I just don't think that you can just fix it mid-season. I mean, the hole was to fix it with Mazi Smith and it just didn't happen. Do you believe 1993 Jerry would get him out of retirement in the Cowboys uniform? I do. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Johnny. You're the man. Have a great one and we'll catch up with you soon. All right, guys, take it easy. John Machota, be athletic. Post-season baseball is here and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rod Bradford of Baseball's and Boring and we're going to have you covered every step of the way with instant reactions from players and coaches and managers and fans and reporters and everybody else who is immersed in this awesomeness and all the craziness that comes with October Baseball. So follow Baseball's and Boring in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music)