GBag Nation
2nd hour of the G-Bag Nation: Cowboys COO Stephen Jones joins the Nation to talk Saints vs Cowboys; NFL News of the Day; Crusty's Corner: Referee Report
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, El Dorado Parkway, at Dallas, North Tolway, now open. Call 972-go-men's tea or visit mensteclinic.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) - Here we go. It's hour number two of the G-Bag Nation here on 1053. The fan, it's time to talk with Stephen Jones here about your Dallas Cowboys before too long, and we look forward to that. Cowboys and St. Sunday at noon. The pregame at nine o'clock here on the fan with Brodus and Chia Follow. Then the post game at about three o'clock with Brodus and Wolchuck, and it'll be a time we'd love it if you could make us part of your weekend as well. Okay, general at your service, salute to you. There's Brian Brodus, former Cowboys scout, and that fell executive. Number one influencer on Cowboys social media, follow him at Brian Brodus. Lucky Lucius P, that's Lucius Alexander. He is in the Pimp Cup at Master Control. You have Wolchuck and Chia Follow, your nosebleed brothers. And of course, Carter Freeman is coordinating your video. You can watch us at 105-the-fan.com twitch and on YouTube. Wolchuck did the pickled pig's feet bet payoff. Unsurprisingly well? - Crushed it, man. Really crud, didn't vomit, and that was like, I mean, it was like plus 500 in the odds to not vomit. - I really thought after the first bite, it was game over. I really did. - Yeah. - You're maybe saved by the fact that there's just not a lot of meat on that bone. - Yeah, I think that that definitely helped me. And then Brian trash talk, and it was just like, bleep you dude, I'm gonna get this done. - You really put your best foot forward and we're all proud of you. - Yeah, I mean, he says that, I can't finish. I can't perform the clutch, well, I just did. - That was a tough feat, and you dominated it. - I tried my best place. - I was just kind of hopeful that you would fail and then have to do something else. That's just kind of teammate I am. - Yeah, I know. Well, thanks for getting those. - You were towing the line there for a second. Then you came back and dominated. - Are you jealous of Wolchuck now? 'Cause his is done, Brodus? - Not at all. - Wow. - Not at all. Well, not until about 525. - I'm gonna have the nitro gummy and a Stella, and I'm gonna be just fine. - We've seen that Brodus has been slowed down by absolutely nothing in the history of these bet payoffs when it comes to consuming items. I feel like today is his reckoning. - I do too, man. I do too. - I do the pigs feet next week when Atlanta just jumps all over Philadelphia. - Yeah. - I might just do it just to prove a point. - Yeah, you got the eagles on Monday night football. - Yeah. - That's nice. - There's a pickle-picks foot in there, if you'd like to just eat it now, you'd get a bet payoff in the future out of the way. I mean, we know there's gonna be at least one more whole prediction by you this season. - If it was a real falcon versus a real eagle, is there an obvious victor in that situation or would that be kind of like a coin flip? - I think the eagle is bigger. - Yeah, the eagle is. - Yeah, the eagle would take him down. - Yeah. - Okay, no doubt. - There might be like some specific hunting falcons that are so fast. - It's all the Arabian ones. I think that was-- - It is the Farragan Falcon or something that flies so fast that if he hit that eagle, I think he'd pair his ass up pretty good. - Yeah. - And I'm sure there's some eagles who are horrible fighters. - Yeah. - That hawks could be. But I think that is scientific. The eagle is the bigger of the two species. - Yeah, a lot bigger. Three feet tall and about 10 pounds. The falcons are much smaller, 20 inches tall and weigh around three pounds. - But some of those eagles are essentially like buzzards. You know, they're just out there like scavenging for food, eating roadkill, you know. - Carrying to deer off. Have you ever seen those videos? I think those are fake. - Dude, no, those, hey. - I think I'm getting ball-sacked on that. - You're not getting ball-sacked on that. - Yeah, I like these characters. - He's carrying away a deer. - It's gross, bro. - That ain't even a talent on these things. - Yeah, I don't know. - If they could take a deer, they could take a human, right? - Yeah. - I don't know about that. Maybe a baby deer. - What's that thing that they find on the side of the mountains? - Billy goats. - Is that what that is? 'Cause they like, they grab 'em, they just drop 'em and watch 'em die. Just bam, bam, and the Billy goat does like 38 flips. And then he'll come down there and eat 'em up. - Terrible. - You just gotta knock 'em off, balance 'em with the bed. - Yeah, yeah, just takes 'em off the mountain. Boom, watch 'em fall. - 'Cause they'll stand on those mountains like it's nothing. Like they're on a stroll in the park just standing on one foot hundreds of feet in the air. - Oh dude, okay, I got the videos here. This is gonna be nuts. - Oh yeah, watch it, bro. - Oh my goodness, look at the talent. The talent on these things, yes, bro. I think he can do it. He can pick Brodus up right there by his dome and just do whatever it wants with him. - We go to this high desert museum just outside of Bend, Oregon. Every couple of years take the kids over there and they have like this birds of prey exhibit where they have these birds like flying around you. And it's one of the most killer wildlife presentations you'll find out there. - Big time poo hazard. - Okay, kick off-- - Should we go track 'em down, Stephen down. So we'll be standing by for Stephen. - I'm serious, this eagle could palm Brodus' scalp the same way LeBron does a basketball. And then he could dunk Brodus the same way. - Do you think the eagle would just better off grab in the back of my neck or the shirt? Just my shirt and like pull him. - The shirt is a dangerous game. The shirt's gonna take a rip. Yeah, you gotta be guaranteed that thing. I'm palming your neck. - Yeah, neck palm. - What'd you think of the self-assessment that rookie Tyler Geiten gave himself, Brian? Do you see his quotes from yesterday? - What did he say yesterday? - I loved it. - They said, how'd you play? He said poorly. The situation is against a good player like that on the road, couldn't hear the calls. The odds were against me. I don't think it was terrible. I felt like I could've been a lot better. - Could've been a lot better. Yeah, but I think the run game stuff was pretty good for him to coming off the football getting into the right guy. That's sustained, we'll get a little bit better as he gets going. But yeah, he was really fighting it in this past block and stuff. And that's tough. I mean, you're on the road as he said. And you're just trying to survive it. I mean, they're trying to give you help, but you're trying to prove you don't need help. And it's difficult, man. Your feet, your hands, all that stuff in perfect conditions. There've been blockers. I watched Trent Williams play against that guy and have struggles. So that guy's a Hall of Fame left tackle. - Yeah. - That guy's gonna give you a problem. So hey, he's better for it for, you know, he's gonna have some other ones down the road that the wats coming up here in a little bit. That'll be interesting to see how that one works. - I mean, you gotta be an athletic freak just to have the potential of staying in front of these guys and stopping them with, you know, the way that they come flying after you. It's incredible, but it's gonna take some time for it to look smooth. - I love the mindset though. I mean, he is his own harshest critic. I mean, he was even talking about, he just doesn't give himself a lot of praise, like enjoying his work even when he does well. And Dak was talking about how he'd come back to the huddle. And he's like apologizing. Like that was my fault, you know? I let Miles Garrett get his hands on me. And he got the best of me on that rep. And Dak's like, it's okay. Like, let's just get on to the next play. But Tyler Geithin is a perfectionist. And I just love his mentality ever since he's been drafted by the Cowboys. That guy wants to just get better every day. - Yeah, Dak said he played pretty good, but liked the accountability. Geithin saying as a competitor, you always want to do better. But I think for my first game in the NFL, it wasn't bad. A lot of room to grow super excited about it. I get to learn from my mistakes. And I feel like going against a great player makes you better. Honestly, rather go up against a better player. But he says he feels like the losses were on him. And that's why he would say he was poor. But man, the job against Miles Garrett, I felt like he was commendable here for the first game of his NFL career. Do you expect to jump in efficiency going into week two? That was one of Dak's talking points. Usually that's when teams make that jump from week one to week two, understanding we left a lot of meat out there on the bone. Was the quote there from Dak Prescott. I hope so, but I feel like we see that against good defenses. Was that a Bigfoot reference by Dak? Might have been. Hello. Is that where that originates? Meat on the bone type of deal? I'm not sure. But I do know it's now from watching "Wolchuck." It can be difficult to get that meat out. Yeah, that was a rough bone to get all the meat off of on that one. But I mean, they know what the situation was. Zach Martin was saying the same thing. Like they had an opportunity in the second half to come out and play better football and offense. And just absolutely bury the Cleveland Browns and they didn't exactly take advantage of that opportunity. Yeah, if the Saints try and do to them what they did to Carolina, there's a chance that Cowboys are going to make a lot of big plays in this game. Quarterbacks better. He's better reader. The receivers, they'll pick up blitzes and stuff. If the Saints decide that they want to be very much a blitz heavy team because they don't think they can get four home on the rush. They can't. They'll give up some big plays in this game. Dennis Allen probably has a pretty good idea though, you know? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, he always, he's coaches have good plans. Okay, we'll get more cowboy quotables coming up later in the show, but it is time now to talk with Stephen Jones here on your home of the Cowboys 105, three of the fan and a good afternoonster. How you doing this football Friday? Doing great guys. How you doing? Oh, we're doing great. We just got the news on Ferguson. Looks like he's doubtful for Sunday, huh? Yeah, it looks like it's going to be a stretch for him to play probably not probably. We are taking a conservative route with him, get him healthy and good news is we like our tight end group and a great opportunity for schoon maker and fan forward to step up and we'll bring fan up and we'll have a good group. So yeah, I wanted to follow up on schoon maker. I know, you know, tight end can be one of those positions that might take a little bit more time. Do you feel like we're still on track and developing to get there? Oh, yeah, I think, you know, his deal is he's had some injury things that have set him back a little bit. And I think he just needs to get out there and get some confidence. He played really well last week in all phases, passing game, running the game and a talented guy and just needs a little confidence. And this will be a great opportunity for him to get it. How you feeling about this Saints match up? I know Dak was talking about some of his buddies protecting him who dad is he's a Louisiana guy, but two teams pretty close proximity. Don't get to play every year. Do you see this is a rivalry? Well, I don't know that it's a rivalry because you don't get to play very much, but obviously we're for close. It's kind of like the Texans, not very far away. And certainly got much respect. Obviously the late Mr. Benson was a good friend of ours and close to the organization. Obviously, Sean taken coach there for a long period of time and then Mickey Loomis, his son, runs our pro personnel department for us. And so there's a lot of connections there. They put together really good football team. Another connection, we got the Cubiac fans going against each other, clients in our building. Certainly doing a great job in our scouting department. And then obviously their coordinator is a Cubiac as well and doing a great job for them. It looks like for the Saints. Stephen, I know you appreciate the opportunity for the elevations and stuff. And I know a lot of thought goes into that though. Is that just one of those things? It's kind of a weekly that okay, you know, Nick Vigil was the guy last week. Is it, and you mentioned Fant? Is it one of those things where it's kind of like you have to be very mindful of who you're bringing up because you've only got so many elevations at those spots? - Yeah, I think you need to be mindful of it. A lot of it obviously has to do with injury. I mean, probably wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the Ferguson injury and the John Stevens injury. And both those guys should be healthy. Should be able to go next week. So that should take care of that. Vigil obviously will pay attention to, he knows that Mike position, but we're training other guys as well. So, you know, those are just the moving parts that go with that certainly special teams play a role in this as well. But we really like the makeup of our roster and certainly team take advantage of those practice squad elevations. I think it's a good thing in the NFL. - It's Steven Jones here with you on the fan. Sounded like Mike McCarthy, a fan of a Dalvin Cook's impressive feet. Do you think he's gonna make an appearance on game day soon? - I think that's possible for sure. He's obviously working hard. Great team player, you know, when Tim was a head coach at Minnesota, he was not only one of his best ball players, as he says it, but also a leader of the team. So he's done a great job here. Obviously watching his brother last night, he did a hell of a job for the Bills last night. Did a hell of a job against us when we played him last year. So, great to have Dalvin on the team. And I'm sure he's gonna get his opportunity with us. - How much did that win Sunday buoy you guys as far as, you know, confidence that, you know, things are coming along just great? I know the way last year ended was disappointing for a lot of fans. You guys said to open up training camp that you still believe this was a good winning team. And, you know, not only did he get the points, but the defense with Zimmer appears to be like more fundamentally sound. I know it's just one game, but it feels like the early returns are great in that department. - Yeah, we felt that, you know, as I said, we, you know, we said we felt good about our football team. You know, we were not only felt like we had a great draft, but we were getting guys back, you know, you know, like an over shown who really stepped up and played a great game. Did get to play last year because of an ACL injury. Certainly some of our veteran pickups like Kendrick's and Linville Joseph and Phillips, you know, they all added to the mix. But, you know, at the same time, you're right. I think what Zymz brought to the table, he brought an edge. And there's a lot of ways to have success in this league. Defensively, certainly Dan did it one way. Jim does it another. And I think it's certainly, he's bringing an element to the defense that I think is very productive and it was great to see that. Obviously, we were very confident offensively based on what we did last year. In part one of the top offenses in the league that, you know, we were gonna be able to move the ball again and certainly we're playing against the top Cleveland defense but to feel like, you know, all the pieces are there for the offensive side as well. - Have you ever eaten pickled pigs feet before? - Yes, I have. - You have? Okay, you're laughing. - Even for markets all, that's certainly most young men don't grow up and you don't at least give it a try. But I actually liked them growing up. - Okay, how about that? Well, my guy, Walchuck just had a bet payoff today and he just hammered home a big John's ready to eat pickled pigs foot. Is it usually as red in the jar as the one that we had or was that an off, off color situation that? - Yeah, they're a pickish red if you will. - Okay, very vinegary. - Yeah, very vinegary for sure. - Okay, but you liked it, is there, what's the, I mean, is that the, if you were like trying to give us the most like the weirdest thing you've ever eaten would that probably be it or have you had a weirder animal? - Well, there's, you know, some people take, you know, push back when you talk about eating shitlings, but I'm a big fan of that as well. I grew up my grandmother on my dad's side. She used to cook them for us and my grandfather loved them. My father liked them and so did I. - Wow, that's fantastic. What's the general Stephen Jones game day eating? Like during the game, are you snacking on something or what's the move there? - Go 'cause I got to have the hot dog before ever game and then I'll snack on the chicken wings or chicken fingers, you know, half time there, but usually can't pass up on those hot dogs usually more than one before the game's over. - That is legendary course. There's all kinds of great stuff to eat at AT&T Stadium. Have fun out there on Sunday and give 'em hell we'll be pulling for you, Stephen. - Appreciate you guys, great being on. - Cheers, there he goes. Every Friday, three o'clock here on 105. Three of the fans, he did confirm that, you know, Ferguson doubtful, but he likes the chances of Scony, Brian. - He does and we'll see with Noah Fant getting the opportunity and these, you asked him about, you know, with the situation with the running backs and stuff. And I think they have to be careful. This might be a game where they'll be able to run the ball and maybe they're gonna need to seek to blitz pick up if in fact that the Saints are going to attack you. The same way, so you're gonna need him in there. But with Cook, I think that you don't wanna use up all the elevations and they're gonna probably get to a point in time where like, okay, this running game is not working. And maybe we need to see Cook for the next three weeks. And, you know, and make an evaluation from that. You just don't wanna bring him up and then all of a sudden, oh, he gets three carries and he does nothing for you. And you've wasted that elevation right there, you know. So, because if you get past the three games of the elevations, then he's gotta go under the 53-man roster. And now you're saying, okay, well, who do you sacrifice? Well, you'll say maybe there'll be some injuries and stuff that will take care of that. But if everybody stays healthy throughout, then, okay, who you taking out of the mix, you know, I mean, I don't know if they would take Ezekiel Elliot out of the mix, I mean, do his fawn, dattle. Somebody's gonna come out of that mix if in fact they have to activate, maybe Cook. - Very interesting indeed, you know, you have quite a while. What, trade deadline? - November 9th. I think it's- - They pushed it back. - Yeah, it's the, it's the halfway point of the season. I'm gonna play the eighth or the ninth of November, I wanna say. - To me, it's exciting because you, the biggest problem, I think on your team is the run game, but your offensive line should be good enough to get you at least average production if you have a good player in there. And if none of these guys can answer the bell over the next six weeks, I think it's something that could easily be remedied at the deadline without spending too much capital. NFL news today coming up, we'll chuck where you're taking it. - Yeah, we got some injury updates for ya. We've got Hollywood Brown in the future of two of us. - Post-season baseball is here and it is the absolute best time of the year. I'm Rob 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) - That's next to the nation. - Welcome back nation. Thanks to Stephen Jones for joining us here on the show. Segment is time now for the NFL news of the day. It's brought to you by SODIS. That stands for State of the Arts, brought to you by the Frankel's Life's Unpredictable accident. It's happened. Frankel and Frankel are the go-to attorneys for current truck recs and DFW. If you were a loved one to in an accident, contact the Frankel's for a free consultation. 214 or 817-333-3333. Jump online to frankaffirm.com. Here's Wolfchuck with that NFL news. - We do have a couple of audio clips. One of Drew Brees talking about prepping for that Mike Zimmer defense. Then Mina Kimes podcast about the Saints offense and how impressed they were last week against Carolina. If we don't have time for all that, we can piggyback that over to 420. - Piggyback. - Right out of the top, Sam. Yeah, of course, all the pig references here today. But we did get some news. Obviously last night was a heartbreaker to watch with Tua going down with another concussion. Now, we even had Antonio Pierce, the Raiders head coach, went to the podium today and said I would tell Tua to retire. A lot of players have come out and former players on Twitter last night were voicing similar thoughts. Mike McDaniel was pretty outspoken and said that's, probably not the route that he wants anyone to go. He's talked to him about his future right now. Let's just think of the person and, you know, we'll take it from there. He's not even looking at a timeframe of when he could return. But they're gonna go with Skylar Thompson at quarterback as of now. Mike McDaniel today said that they might be looking at bringing in another quarterback. I've seen rumors of, you know, could Ryan Tannehill who's still out there possibly reunite there in Miami? Some people have tried to put Trey Lance's name in the ring there. - He's like no, I like it. - Dobs, maybe trade for Dobs. He's in San Francisco. You've got that relationship with McDaniel and Shanahan and Lynch, that could happen as well. But, I mean, Skylar Thompson, for Miami, a team that had, you know, obviously playoff aspirations of playoff team last year, Skylar Thompson can't throw the football. I mean, it's a killer for guys like Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle who just signed big contracts. They got to be looking at themselves like, damn, this is not good for the rest of the season. If we've got to have Skylar Thompson throwing the football to us, but really it's all about Toa and where does he go from here, that's a decision he's going to have to make with his family, but certainly a lot of people and aides on it. You often don't see another coach be that outspoken Antonio Pierce and say, yes, I would tell him he should hang it out. He should call it a career. Think about future. - I don't know, man. Like Troy and Roger had a lot of concussions, you know, Babe Loffenberg, a lot of concussions. I think this is an overreaction. Concussions was a part of the sport for decades. And, you know, I don't think it's a, you have to retire type of situation. It's a, I might retire, but I wouldn't tell that man anything about what he should or shouldn't do. - I kind of wonder 'cause I was with Aikman at the end and he couldn't even take a normal quarterback hit. You know, it's like you drop back and you get bumped. - Yeah. - And then it was-- - Like it was like Lindross. - Well, yeah, he did he took yesterday, like, granted, he needs to slide. Like, you don't need to be going hit first. - Yeah, he doesn't have to do that. That's still an innocuous hit. But it was, like, DeMar Hamlin with the, right? Like, with his arm. - I don't know. - It wasn't even like a helmet to helmet. It seems like kind of-- - He kind of ran up into his chest. - Well, anytime you-- - The whiplash of the head and the neck. I think that's the problem he has, is anytime that his head and his neck move that way. - Yeah. - He's just clearly very susceptible. - It triggers, yeah. - And he's very unaware of that, you know, despite his best efforts. - Well, that's kind of with Troy. He, you know, he was dealing with the back and then Stobock, you know, he played in an era where they had no padding, basically, in the helmet. So his concussions were, you know, and they used to head hunt those Deacon Jones and Carl Ehlers-- - It's also just a different era now, though, with all the information they've got on the concussions and CTE and how many of these young linebackers have we seen? Go ahead and just retire and call it quits early. - Yeah, but I think the big thing with the differences is I'm not used to it. Maybe back in the day, it was you were more accustomed to seeing dudes just be KO'd and their fingers are crossed up and their arms are stiff and the fencing, whatever it is, they call it where, like, it's clearly this dude is KO'd like he was just in a UFC fight. - Right. - I'm not used to watching football and seeing that. Even growing up and watching 2000s and things like that when you're smacking people, you're not used to seeing guys react to the concussion the way Tua has now twice. And unfortunately, for the league and everything, it's been on national television both times. - Yeah, I mean, the best thing about it was he was able to get up and walk off on his own power. You know, you didn't see the stretcher come out like against the bangles two years ago, but it's certainly a terrifying moment. We'll see, you know, what happens with Miami moving forward. Now, the Chiefs, they went ahead and signed Marquis Hollywood Brown, former Oklahoma sooner. He's now scheduled for surgery on a Cernoclavicular clavicle. Is that what it is, a Cernoclavicle? - It's not like a shoulder, huh? - Keep going, was there an R at the end of it? - There he is, like, clavicular? - Yeah. - Smells ridiculous. - That's a tough one to say. Right now, the pig's in my mouth. But he could miss the remainder of the season. He's gonna have to have surgery. They thought this was like a week-to-week deal. - Yeah, the pig foot's in my mouth. But man, that's a bummer for a big free agent addition that they had. Thank God they drafted Xavier Worthing out. - They needed the weapons. - Oh man, yeah, that, I mean, it's obviously not like one of those, oh no, now they lose their chance at doing Super Bowl things. - No, it's a hit. Like they would've been an even better offense with him, but they're still good without him. - Right, right, but yeah, the, I mean, that's honestly good news for the league though. Just a little bit less speed to have to worry about on what looked like an extremely fast offense. They're that first night versus the Ravens. - I don't know that anybody truly understands what Trevor Lawrence means to Jacksonville, if you're not a Jacksonville fan. But I think from the outside looking in, some of this stuff looks ridiculous. The Jags are going to rename the stadium. After Trevor Lawrence for their game this weekend is part of a promotion. So obviously he signs a massive $275 million extension. The stadium name is Everbank Stadium. They're changing it to Trevorbank Stadium to celebrate their starting quarterback ahead of the game against Cleveland. Trevorbank Stadium. - Trevorbank Stadium. - Trevorbank Stadium. - We're getting ball sacked here. - No, this is a 100% genuine real story. It's been fact checked on multiple legitimate websites. - What are we doing, why are we doing it? - It's a promotion and Lawrence said, I don't like having too much of the spotlight with that stuff like that, but I think it was clever. They have the naming rights for the stadium. So it's a good play on words and I was fine with it. So he's the ambassador, the brand ambassador for Everbank, which he signed on back in August. So this is like a promotional deal. - So they gave him the go ahead to do this on business. - Yeah, but it's still just for a quarterback that still has a lot to prove. It's just like we're, I mean, my goodness gracious, what are we doing here? - Yeah, I mean, it was in that same stadium that well, I guess he came back and won that game versus the Chargers, right? He was the one that came back and once he has won a playoff game in that stadium. So I guess that's a little bit better. - I'm gator-able. - I've been seeing, and it's hard to disagree with the internet saying that Trevor Lawrence looks like the love child from the Sopranos, like Furio and Mrs. Soprano. - Oh, Carmella? - Yeah. - Carmella? - Yeah, Carmella and Furio's love child is Trevor Lawrence. - Wow. - Wow. - When you see it, you're like, I can't unsee it. - I could, that's spot on. I love that. Jordan Addison's been ruled out for the game against the 49ers on Sunday. - Yeah, those little guys. - Niners haven't won in Minnesota since 1992, looking to break that streak. - Wow, really? - Yeah, I did not, was not aware of that, but it's been quite some time since San Francisco was won in Minnesota. - Been a lot of lean Niner years. - Well, they went to, they were in Minnesota last year and it was one of those crazy, I think I got believed in Survivor on that one. - Wow, it was probably like that two game, that losing streak that they went on. - Right before halftime, when I believe it was Jordan Addison caught like a huge pass, right before the half, it was one of those ridiculous, I wanted, it was not a good situation. - And then Christian McCaffrey, it doesn't look like he's practicing today, he's questionable, earlier today, John Lynch, saying don't know the answer, if he's gonna play against Minnesota, he's dealing with Achilles at tendonitis, could be good one day, then it flares up, it's been frustrating, we're thinking long term, we need Christian healthy, fully out there, don't wanna compromise anything. So there's your Christian McCaffrey update for you fantasy footballers out there. - Yeah, they know he's injury prone and it would be the worst thing for them and the best development possible for their rivals. And injuries are an unfortunate part of the game and they have a guy there that needs special care. - All right, we can conclude NFL news of the day, do you want the Meena Kimes podcast or do you wanna hear from Groobries? - Groobries. - All right, so here's Meena. All right, tiebreaker Eric. - Yeah, let's go, Meena. - All right, let's get, here's Meena Kimes podcast, she had JP Acosta on earlier, we'll get to Groobries before the top 10 listed for 20, but they're breaking down that Saints offense heading into this match up against the Cowboys. - They're good. - What do the Saints need to do to go to a no this week? - I think they need to keep getting weird with their positionless personnel. There's this vivid touchdown against the Panthers in my head where Alachamara is lined up at receiver, the Sheets of Heat is in the backfield with Taysom Hill and Juan Johnson goes in motion. It's that kind of positionless personnel stuff that Clint Kubiak is bringing from San Francisco that I really think is going to work in this game because they have so many guys who fill multiple hats and multiple roles. I don't think Dallas' second level defenders were tested very much against Cleveland offensively, but if Clint Kubiak can really kind of get his guys into positions where they can make plays on using motion and using Derek Carr to not necessarily just attack downfield consistently and relentlessly, but in order to use motion to just get the ball out in space to the best players, get Olave involved, Alachamara involved in the passing game, Taysom Hill was just doing everything. I didn't know that he was just going to line up at receiver, at quarterback, running back and fullback. So just keep getting weird. Throw the entire kitchen sink at this defense. - Scat weird against this Mike Zimmer defense. It's going to get weird right on against you. - So it's weird on weird. - Yeah, that's it. That's all I needed to hear to flip flop with the second week in a row, Wolfchuck, mid-show. I'm changing my prediction to the Cowboys opponent. - Well, it worked last week, so I hope it works again. - Mike Zimmer needs more time to coach the Dan Quinn out of him, Brian. - So you're going, you're going, Saints? - Going Saints. - Are you going Saints? - What's the score now? - 24/17. - You should have weirded up and yet the win. - I just like the motion and all that's going to be too much. - Ah, yeah. - I would wait until I saw the injury report and see what all offensive linemen are not playing for the Saints. - You know, I just remember confused defensive linemen at times last year when this happens. It's like the pass rush gets neutralized. I mean, maybe I shouldn't be doing this 'cause the Cowboys are at home. But I just feel like with the Cowboys, whenever things start to feel great, that's when we're primed for a big letdown, this feels like the Arizona game from last year, Wolfchuck. - Gosh, I'm going to be terrible. Okay, so here's your Saints injury report for Wagga, did not practice today, but he's listed as questionable. So he hasn't practiced the last two days. - I said it's 50-50 on that. - Has not practiced the last two days either, but he's also listed as questionable. They've only got two players officially listed as out and I don't think either of them was out. - What could possibly go wrong? - All righty, there it is. Your NFL news of the day with Zach Wolfchuck, I feel like that prediction made Brian very uncomfortable. But not as uncomfortable as he's going to be when he sees that bill for the brisket sandwiches later. - Ooh! - Where we going next, crusty? - I'll tell you what, I'm going to talk to you about the officials for this week's game and I got some questions for my guys. - Thank you Lucius. Thank you all for making it as part of your day, happy football Friday, it's a big one. Crusty's corner here in just a second, the broadest bed payoff coming up at 520, the hottest food item in the world, the little nitro gummy with millions of Skovils that will attack his cardio and gastrointestinal systems at 520 in the expressway. Crusty's corner right here, brought you by Reliant Air Conditioning gimmick-free AC Repair and Replacement. Here's the king. - Thank you very much, I appreciate that. - Thank you. - That's a nice build up to get that done. - Yeah, I thought your Crusty's corner listeners would appreciate now and you'll be the star of the show again at 520. - Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. - Yeah, you will. - I'm looking forward to that. Well, Chuck was over there wiping down his area. Did you notice that? - Yeah. - That smell was just maybe a little bit too much. - I think you totally recovered from that for at least 24 hours. - You just won't go away. That vinegar is just here to stay. - Were you surprised that Stephen Jones was as enthusiastic about the pigstick? - I was. - Yes, but I guess, you know, Arkansas man. - Arkansas guy, yeah. - Maybe I shouldn't have been. - Yeah. - I was kind of, I was like, I would think Stephen Jones 'cause they like their big hunters. Like, I thought he was saying, "Well, one time I had a duck heart or something." You know, I thought he was going to say. - Yeah. - You know, like, "Oh, one time we were out." - Just had a beating at your heart, man. - We were shooting deer. - Super nutritious. - Deer and I had a liver right there on the, you know, right out of the side, you know, I was thinking. - At least a squirrel or a possum or something. - Yeah. - I would rather have the feet than a squirrel. I would rather eat the pig's feet than a squirrel. - I mean, if you're talking like squirrel off the grill? - Possum. - I'll take squirrel off the grill before I go pig foot out of a jar. - Yeah. - I don't know, man. - Possum I would not want. - Possum seems like a kind of diseased animal. - The more soup you'll. - Yeah. - Yeah, kinda diseased. - The squirrel's getting a good life though. You know, he's very, a lot of cardio. - Yeah. - Mostly eating walnuts and stuff. You think Lucius is possum, have you ever had possum? - No, I'm not eating possum. - Okay, gosh. I was worried you were gonna say, man. - Unless there's like Armageddon or something going down and I'll eat it. There's too many other options. - Yeah, I think so too. All right, we're talking about the officials for this week's game. I always do this on a Friday. - Zebra Report, here we go. - Zebra Report, Sean Smith. - Oh crap. - Sean Smith's got this one this week. - Got a bad rap, Denny. - Yeah, it's kind of interesting. He's kind of, he officiated a game, your last game of the season, last year, against the commanders. And so, and then the game after that that he did, he did the conference championship game last year. - Which one? - He did the Kansas City Baltimore game. What they, so usually when you do that, you're like gonna be the Super Bowl guy, like in the coming year. - Oh, next year you got a shot at the big one. They're looking at him as like, he's gonna be like a big time dude. - Just different degrees of crap, if you ask me, Brian, I don't like any of these guys. - Yeah, there's-- - They all stink. - They all stink, all bunch of jobbers. - Sean, his week one game was Tennessee at Chicago. And so, at 15 calls for 105 yards, small sample size, I'll just give you what happened in that game. - That the four fall starts, four offensive holding penalties. And then two, this is special team stuff. Illegal block above the waist. That's that, you know, those are ones you kind of like-- - Above the waist. - Above the waist. - I thought it was you couldn't go low. - Yeah, illegal block above the waist. They had two of those in this game. - Well, the Cowboys did have a couple of plays where they like, all the time in chopped block. - Yeah. - You could do that, you caught on that. - No, you could do that in the line of scrimmage. You could do that. - They'll be okay with that. - They'll be okay with that. - A lot of this illegal block above the waist stuff is special teams. - I thought I'd push it in the back. - Yeah. - And I hit them in the back. - Almost like the old clippings and stuff like that. But Sean also had too many men on the field. So they're counting you up for that. Yeah, you don't need that. All of a sudden you're going for a, you know, going for a field goal at half. And all of a sudden you got 12 dudes on the field, one of those things. Sean's going to be counting you up for that. Illegal formation was the last one. Those are the top five. False start, offensive holding. Illegal block above the waist. Too many men on the defense. Too many men on the field. And then illegal formation. If you go back and look at his history of, and I say history of 2023, his number one calls or his cruise calls were offensive holding. Then he had 28 of these. He had 28 unnecessary roughness calls. Okay, now think about that. 28 of those, that's kind of like, okay, I'm not going to let you play. I'm not going to let you get chippy. I'm not going to look like to a game almost. Yeah, but unnecessary roughness was a big factor. DPI, defensive pass interference was number three. Defensive holding, he had nine. And then delay of game. Here we go again. Delay of game, they had eight of them last year. So here's another clock watcher. You get down to that point. We saw what happened last week. I told you about clique Blakeman in that crew. What happened before half? Got in reset the clock. Here we go. Delay of game should be fungible. Yeah, well, so from last season, offensive holding, unnecessary roughness. Might not let you play. Might not let you get chippy in this one. DPI, defensive pass interference, defensive holding and delay of game. That would be Sean Smith. He is your official for the game this week. Well, we want him having a tight whistle with that offensive holding the way Mike against after him. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you on that. Chief. Yes, sir. Hunter Lipke is going to be more of a factor than Luke Schoonmaker in this game. I will, I will say true on that one, man. I mean, they were, they were loving some Lipke after the game this past week. They got him involved in the passing game last week as well. I think there's more in store for him and I think they trust him more than Scuny at this point. How about you there, Willie Bully? Hunter, Hunter Lipke is going to be more of a factor than Luke Schoonmaker. Yeah, I think I would, I would absolutely agree. I think Lipke has a role. Mike McCarthy loves him. I'm sure they've got a variety of ways that they can use him. Look, Scuny, it's a big week for him regardless. He's going to have to be somewhat of a factor. He's going to be out there at done. But I think ultimately like who ends up ending this game with more production, I would probably say Scuny or Lipke. Dawson, Hunter Lipke is going to be more of a factor than Luke Schoonmaker in this game. I hate it, but I would agree with that. You know, I think Scuny is a massive bust there in the second round. Stephen Jones joins us at the top of the hour says, you know, he's still on track, he's just, you know, got injured, so hasn't been able to play as much. I hope he's right. You know, I remember how long it took Dalton Schultz. You know, they were bringing in like Blake Jarwin and draft another guys hoping to find a Titan bull. Dalton was sitting on the roster year four. He shows up and he was great in the year five, but I just don't think lightning is going to strike like that again for you. I kind of feel like that this could be a good game for Dallas' tight ends. And because the amount of single high coverage you get, and you know, when you look at the Saints, it's going to play a ton of man coverage. I'll be interested to see how that, I would love to have Jake Ferguson. We all love to have Jake Ferguson in this game. But when you look at the Saints in the secondary with Will Harris and then Tyron Matthew, Tyron Matthew, we're going to play around the line of scrimmage. Man, there's going to be some opportunities to run up the seam and make some plays here in man coverage. And I hope that Luke Schoonmaker could be that guy. But I think that Hunter Lipke, Willy Boyer Wright, they've got more in mind for him than they do for Luke Schoonmaker. - I mean, the deception like, is he going to run it? Is he going to catch it? You know, I think he's just more of a player. - I agree, I agree. Dawson, is there an area that worries you the most about this matchup? Is there an area of the game that you worry about in this matchup? - Yeah, you know, I think the motion at the snap is big. I think Olave is a great player. You know, they have a number of wide receivers. I think this is going to test your defensive backs more than last week against the Browns. - How about you there, Chiefston? - Yeah, I mean, there's not much that really concerns me. I guess if they're able to confuse the offensive line consistently with some of their blitzes and having free rushes could be something. But I think I'm reaching for something when I say that obviously watching the Zimmer defense versus a Shanahan style offense like this is going to be interesting. But I like the Cowboys anyways. - How about you there, Willie? - I think that's the only thing. I mean, I like what the Cowboys have at corner. Kailin Carson played well last week. I mean, look, Shaheed is fast. You know, maybe the speed element of him. If they can block it up, Derek Carr certainly is going to be able to push the ball down the field where DeShawn Watson was not. So you could get tested there, but it's really just about the pre-snap motion. How are they lining up? I mean, that audio we played was great. You got Shaheed in the backfield, what they're doing with both of their running backs with Williams and Kamara. It'll be interesting to see the Cowboys get tested defensively that way, making sure everybody is all lined up on the same page. You don't have any musts. - Yeah, I kind of worry about the nickel and diamond Dallas in this game. That maybe the ball is not going to go down the field that all of a sudden it's-- - Quick passing game. - Yeah, it's Foster Moreau. It's putting Kamara out in that flat. It's just quick, you know, a lobby. I just worry about them not letting the Dallas pass rush be a factor in this game. - Diggs will jump one or two. And in Dax three starts against the Saints, I think he's averaging just under 17 points per game. So don't rule out that they got some. - The last time-- - I think it's the worst version of their defense though that Dax ever seen. - Well, I've seen-- - That's not a more doesn't play for sure. - I've seen the last time that Dallas won a game where they scored less than 20. This is from Nick Harris. - The last time Dallas won a game scoring less than 20 points was when they played the Saints that one time. - Back in 2018, that 13 to 10. - Yeah, 13 to 10. - Yeah, the Jordan Lewis game. - Other than that, they've lost like 23 straight games. - Dikes. - Not scoring, so let's hope they put up some points. They thank you boys, appreciate you. - Thank you, Brian. Crusty's corner brought you by Reliant error conditioning every day at 3.40. Another reminder for you. You know, Brian is going to do a bet payoff that YouTube considers self-harm. It's a little nitro gummy bear. And it's coming up at 5.20. He's very confident though, which is pretty cool. Okay, speaking of the ain't, she got Luke Johnson. He covers the football team for the New Orleans Times, pick a yune. And he'll jump on with us. Tell you about this football team next the nation. - 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 as I'm Boring in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. (upbeat music)