GBag Nation
3rd hour of the G-Bag Nation: Around the Dak deal; Texas Rangers GM Chris Young joins the Nation; Woolly Bully's Top 10 Takeaways from Cowboys vs Browns
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And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKeea sent you, the sharpest ride, affordable, sexy, sharp. - Here we go. It's our number three of the GBAG Nation on 105.3. The fannet is time now for the C note, the Cowboys news of the evening, coming off of a week one dominant victory over the Cleveland Browns. This is exciting and we have a new DAC contract to talk about as he becomes the highest paid player in the sports history here and a very well earned $60 million a year. How did this come to be? David Moore has the story up in the morning news. DAC got the call an hour before they left the team hotel to go to the stadium on Sunday. Said it was emotional because he would have bet that it would not have gotten done at the same time on Saturday, apparently Saturday evening and Sunday morning things started to speed up. I just love the great line from DAC. I just want to hold up my end of the deal and deliver for Jerry. And Jerry saying, my prayer is that we have the ability to put the supporting cast around him. I hope those things change, you know? But I feel like we've been listening to cowboy greats or cowboy good players, cowboy pro bowlers, say this now since about the late 2000s. You know, after the thing happens in Seattle where now we're getting to 10, 12, 15 years since the cowboys had won it. So now we've been dealing with like another 15 years of this happening since we started seeing Jerry Jones and the cowboys say things like this after doing new big deals or, you know, getting ready for another season. I want to know what's going to be different. Why Jerry Jones, should we believe that the organization could actually take advantage of this opportunity in the next five years of having one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL? What would give you confidence, Zach, that this could change for us? - I mean, honestly, there probably is not a reason to be confident and nothing's really changed, right? Like DAC is a good quarterback. The cowboys, I do think have put together a pretty good supporting cast for the most part around him. Now, you have, I think, a defense, a defense that is probably the best in my opinion that he's going to have played with. I think this defense is taking another level. I get it that they went up against an absolutely terrible offense yesterday with two backup tackles. So we need to kind of wait and see before we like anoint them. Oh my gosh, this is like a top three elite defense. I will wait to do that. But I do love what I'm seeing schematically from my Ximmer, how he's being able to get the most and maximize Mike Parsons and create matchups for Demarcus Lawrence, who had one of his best games yesterday as well, the linebacker in court is night and day. So the defense, that can help you, right? I mean, I mentioned this comment, you know, in the post game show, as great as Patrick Mahomes is, Patrick Mahomes isn't winning Super Bowls without Chris Jones on the other side, also making defensive plays. Like Micah needs to get that from Trayvon Diggs, who's locked up long term from Micah, who's going to get locked up long term. Like the rest of the team's got to step up here. When it comes to Dak, I mean, I think you guys know, I love Dak, I think highly of Dak. I think he's a very good top 10 quarterback at times, plays like a top five quarterback. But the jury's out in the post season. You can't look away from what's happened, the last three exits. Now, Green Bay, did he play well, no, but the whole team played terrible. But he had the opportunities against San Francisco to go on game winning drives. And that's really what sets you apart as a quarterback in the post season. Games on the line, can you go ahead and do this? And when you're paying a guy that contract, that's what he knows he needs to now take that step and do. There are some cowboy fans that are going to think he will never be that guy and maybe he won't be. - Well, especially after yesterday's second half, I feel like that had to reinforce that. Here's the guy that struggled against Green Bay, that struggled against the Niners, struggled a handful of times in the regular season last year. And I don't feel like he's going to be different. There's nothing that can do, he's maxed out. I think it's got to come from the organization. - I mean, the organization can't go out there and make the plays for him though, right? I don't think you can look at a single Super Bowl that's been won and that quarterback that won the Super Bowl, even like a Trent Dilfer and a Brad Johnson who got carried. And there wasn't a moment in that playoff run where they had to step up and make a play. You have to have your quarterback do that. No matter how good your team is, you have to have your quarterback at some point. Eli Manning, do I think he's better than Romo? No, but Eli Manning made some awesome plays and stepped up in big moments for the Giants to win those Super Bowls. - Aren't they always on teams though, that have a defense that'll do it for him or a running game that can do it for them? - Yes, I mean, look, Dilfer and Johnson, they're not in Super Bowls without elite defenses, right? And having running games. Certainly, you want to build that around him. And I think that they've done a good job now. You've added two young offensive linemen that I think are going to be here for a long time. They might have some reserves that can slide in when Zack Martin's time's over. I'd love to hear what you said about Steele, who's locked up, if he can get back to his position. The offensive line's going to be a huge part of this. And I think we're going to talk next year, the draft, it's going to be about finding your next big running back. - I think that as long as they don't lose Wilma Clay, they'll be all right. I think that that's your hope right there. I think Wilma Clay's the glue that holds all this together. And his ability to manage the coaches, manage the scouts, manage the Joneses. If Wilma Clay decides to pick up and leave or gets an opportunity, and we don't know, I mean, Wilma might be closer to doing that than in years past. Getting his own team, running his own operation, pick his own coach. - Getting the title of actual general manager, right? - I think if you keep Wilma Clay, you're going to do a good job of holding the standard they're at currently. - I think that to me when you start to, and this is how I was going to finish it up, you have, say yesterday, you had nine pressures, I believe from Michael Parsons. If you talk about pressures, and that's important, Neilan had eight, the tackles overshown make. So to me, those are the guys that are going to make the difference in you going forward, and being able to, guys you didn't expect, we didn't expect that Marshall and Neilan would be a guy that all of a sudden he's playing, you know, 40, 50 snaps, he's getting eight pressures out of that. You know, that's the ability that Wilma Clay has. You know, and I think you got a defensive coordinator, and you know me, I'm biased to Mike Zimmer, I love Mike Zimmer, I said it when he was hired, I think this is a guy that's capable of saving Mike McCarthy's job. - After one week, you're 100% right? - I believe that, I really do believe that. Now we'll see what happens, but to me, Dawson, if you lose Wilma Clay, you are going to lose the ability, I think, to draft well. - I would agree that, yeah. - And that, or to go out and get players free agency, they're not gonna spend money to traditional way of going out hundreds of millions of dollars on somebody else's players, they've proven they'll spend it on their own. - I mean, nobody's perfect, they've had their down seasons as well, but I would want nobody else than what the Cowboys have put together when it comes to their whole draft team. - Yeah. - I'll take these guys. I believe in them. But you know, what's gonna push it over the top, I think is the management of the salary cap at the front office level, and I don't think Jerry and Stephen Jones are imagining that there is even an opportunity there. That's what's gotta change if you wanna win it. - And I'm just, maybe I'm confused in what way, in the management of what way. I mean, and how do you want them to? They're paying top dollars. - Go get great players. - Go get more great players. - Yeah, I think fill your holes. Get a running game. - Get a running game. - It would be in maybe. - But that's, but okay, they drafted the running back. I mean, they drafted the offensive lineman. - Yeah. - Where now the jury is out is on the running backs. - Who was our defense, who was our player of the game yesterday, Brian, in the post game? - It was a linebacker. - Right, Eric Hendricks, right? - Eric Hendricks, yeah. - Eric Hendricks was a free agent addition. Now, it was not expensive at all. But I think that's, I think that we know they draft and develop, well, that's the reason they're competitive. That's not changing, and as long as we'll share, I'm with you. I think the next step then is evaluating, and maybe it's not, hey, I'm going out and getting top of the market guys. But at least being a player and showing that you're active in free agency instead of completely taking it off, which it seems like they do. Now, credit to them. They got Eric Hendricks at their number. He said, bye-bye, San Francisco. I wanna come and play for you. Hell yeah, they deserve credit for that move. But at the same time, little additions like that, that's what ends up being able to be the difference makers for certain teams in the post season. And I don't think we've seen enough of those. - Yeah, I think for the Rams in 2021, it's Von Miller and Jalen Ramsey. We need a pass rush, we need a cover guy. - Is that trades? - Trades are part of that. - That was trades, right? That wasn't free agent signings, but that was a commitment to trading the picks and then paying the guys, I guess. But to me, they're going to always pay their own before they pay somebody else's own. And that's where their philosophy is. They're like, when you draft well enough, you can get away with that. I don't think that's a bad philosophy. But to me, they go out and get a Kendrick's, go out and they traded for cooks. I think cooks played a factor in the game yesterday, you know? I don't know, to me, there's ways to do this without paying other free agencies. - I just don't see the teams that's doing it, you know? Before that, it was Tampa adding in Damakong Sioux and Jason Pierre-Paul. There's going to be parts of your roster that are lacking. And I see the great teams adding all pros there. - They traded a one, they would stay, they're terrible at trading a one to go get a wide receiver. And they did that to go get a Mari Cooper. It's a shame that a Mari Cooper and the team got crossed. You know, that would have been something that had been nice to probably still have a Mari Cooper here playing, you know? But I think the willingness to, they're going to always pay their own, are they going to go out and sign that there's no, they're not going to do that. That's just not going to happen, you know? There's teams, like I say, I think the Rams, the Rams, maybe some bad drafting teams. You know, that's where, if you don't have confidence your ability to draft, you have to go out and pay money, I think, to go get guys. - Well, they got the Dak deal done. Dak says he wants to, you know, get the championship done. Jerry Jones. - That's on him now. - He believes he can now. Jerry Jones, you know, I believe I can put the supporting caster around him. I don't know, they have opened as six and a half point favorites in week two against the New Orleans Saints. How are you feeling about that matchup right now, chief? - Ooh, I mean, I feel good about it. I know the Saints just Molly Wapped, the Panthers in the Super Dome, but that is not something that strikes fear into me. I still will be expecting Cowboys victory. The line is starting at Cowboys six and a half point favorites, probably with the fact that how good the Cowboys were at home last year is factored in there a little bit, but yeah, I'm feeling good about beating the Saints. I will add one other thing to just a general, you know, the strategy of trying to get a Super Bowl. You got to make sure you don't, you got to make sure you got the right head coach. And you've upgraded from Jason Garrett to Mike McCarthy. You have absolutely leveled up, but is that ultimately going to be enough? Or is there, you know, not short changing yourself on the coaching stuff? You know, there's no salary cap in the coaches. Make damn sure you go out there as the number one, your America's team, you're the most, you're the wealthiest team in all of sports. There is no cap on just going and saying, I'm going to make sure I have an awesome coach. And you did it defensively just now. And it's not, I don't want to take a ton of shots at Mike McCarthy because he's solid, but solid quarterback deck, solid head coach Mike McCarthy is not usually winning the Super Bowl. You got to have great somewhere. - Of the next great coaches has been Johnson, the one that you would say could get you a Super Bowl? - I think that's definitely a guy you would take the chance on. Yes, I don't know his personality. I don't know all those, the other head coach characteristics, but from what I know about Ben Johnson. Heck yeah, dude, that'd be a guy I'd want to go get. - You're tied, you're married to the quarterback now. - Yeah. - So now the quarterback now. - How can I help Mike? Really good quarterback? Not great, but really good quarterback. Be the best version of himself. Matthew Stafford going from Detroit's coaching to Sean McSachs all of a sudden. He's throwing no look touchdowns in a Super Bowl. - So when you're thinking about the potentially of the next head coach here, and I could say that, here we are, it's not in the off season, but if you're thinking about that, you have to absolutely think about your first question then has to be about Dak Prescott and how you would work, but how would you would make Dak Prescott that? What you're talking about. If you think the coach is a Super Bowl coach, okay, how do I get my quarterback to play that way? And please don't tell me that you don't think my quarterback can get to the Super Bowl, 'cause if you don't, then we just made a huge mistake with some money. - At this point if McCarthy's not back, I want Mike Zimmer as the head coach with Al Harris as the DC. - I kind of feel like that Mike is the DC and nothing against him as the head coach is a better office for you as a DC than he is a head coach. - I mean, I would be as long as he sticks around. - Yeah, as long as he sticks around. - No, just keep him there. - That's just personally, I mean, that's why I think Mike, I think when you let him be the guy that walks around and makes sure that the defensive line is taking care Al Harris is a damn good coach, I think he's on his way. But to me, Mike is a defensive coordinator, I think is better than Mike is a head coach. That's just me. - Impressive debut yesterday, everything just looked so much more solid and that the breakdown was unlikely. And when the bell was being delivered to a spot, it seemed like the entire team knew it a half second before and was rallying there. - Well, you're looking at two opening day and you have a lot of time to prepare for that. - Okay. - You have a lot of time. - And Zimmer knows to fancy very well. - Yeah, and he does. And I think that Wally Bullies right there on this thing, let's see how it plays. The pieces are there for them to have a very good defense. But let's see, you've got some games coming up that you get a quarterback this week to get throw the ball down the field. You know, this quarterback you just played couldn't throw at six yards, you know? I mean, he couldn't complete a pass, you know, under, I mean, everything was underneath. But that was the pressure you put on him to do that. So, but I think Zimmer will be up to the task every week. - Had some wide open guys too in the middle of the field. It was just crazy to watch that bad offensive play. 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Hey, what's going on, it's your girl, Tasha McKia, and I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the sharpestrides.com, right from the palm of your hands. Or, check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out, head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia sent you, the sharpest rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. - Thanks for the nation. - Welcome back, G-Bag Nation, the Rangers of one four series in a row. They're sitting out just four games below 500. And another exciting call up today to ask GM Chris Young about it as time now. For the Chris Young Show, segments brought to you by soda, that's state of the arts, brought to you by cars for kids, donate today carsforkids.org. And it's brought to you by the Frankles. Life's unpredictable accidents happen if you are loved ones hurt in an accident due to somebody's negligence, call the Frankles for a free consultation. 2-1-4 or 8-1-7-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3. Go to franklefirm.com, see why presented by PlayScore and by Ann Heiser Bush. And a good afternoon to you, sir. How the heck are you? - Hey guys, I'm well, how are you all? - We're doing good. We're excited about the announcement that Kumar Rocker is coming up on Thursday. Can you talk to us about what went into that? - Yeah, it's just a really exciting day for our franchise and for our fans. Certainly, Kumar has earned the opportunity to get called up and there's a lot that goes into it. But ultimately, we've kind of covered every angle in terms of our decision-making process, starting with the medical side. And Kumar has passed all the tests from a medical standpoint. He's fully healthy. He's out of rehab mode and in game mode, compete mode. And from there, it becomes more of a baseball decision. And what's right for the player, for the team? How much experience does he need in the minor leagues? Playing that with the experience that he would get at the big league level. But I think the most important piece of this is that we talk about internally all the time that this is a performance-based game. And Kumar has earned the opportunity. He has done everything he possibly can in terms of his performance to earn this call up. And, you know, kudos to him. I'm so happy for him. He's a great, great person. And I think he's gonna look great in the Rangers uniform. - What do you think about the talk that his numbers compare favorably to what Paul Skeens was able to do in his seven minor league appearances? - You know, I didn't realize that. That's not something we compared necessarily when we were making this decision. So I wasn't aware of really how close those numbers are to each other. But what I will say is that he's an elite competitor and Paul Skeens is an elite competitor. And they're extremely talented pitchers. When you have the mental to go with the physical, those guys seem to do special things. And I put nothing past Kumar in terms of his ability to compete, perform, and that's why we're calling him up. - How important is it with the economics of baseball today? You know, is there a concerted effort to see these young guys up early to be, you know, a way to balance off some of the big spending that you have to do elsewhere on the roster? - Well, there's no doubt. I mean, it's not part of our decision-making specific to Kumar. It's really for every organization. The more homegrown talent you can have and cheaper, younger players, the more flexibility it gives you to sign veteran players to complete your roster. So there is certainly a benefit to it, but it's not why we made this decision, but you know, it's why a pipeline of talent in the farm system is so critically important to the success of any organization. - How excited are you as well as this rotation is really starting to get healthy Jacob DeGrom, the impending return for him. And what's kind of some reasonable expectation, see why, 'cause I'm thinking just a complete game. No hitter. (laughs) - Well, I don't think you're gonna see a complete game. The number of hits I'm not gonna make predictions on, but I know that these guys are, you know, Kumar, Jacob, and others are capable of being dominant. So, but for Jacob, it's in our expectation, assuming he feels good today and tomorrow, he'll pitch later this week against the Mariners. And we're really excited about that. It's a big day for our team and for our franchise and for our fans, as I said, you know, we've got a young pitching prospect. We've got a pitcher who is arguably the best in the world rejoining our rotation. It's a lot of fun to talk about these positives, especially in a season where we've had a lot of challenges. And we've talked about creating momentum and building into the off season so that we come back in 2025 with an expectation of winning again. And I think these are steps in the right direction, but specific to your question on Jacob, you know, he will be on a pitch count as will Kumar, you know, they'll be submitting to limits here for both of those players. But any time you have guys like that out on the mound, it gives your team a better chance to win and to work thrilled to have Jacob coming back. - See why, if I could circle back on, was there, when you talked about with the staff and what you were gonna do with Kumar and get him, is there any thought about the team you're pitching against or playing against, who that goes into that? Is there something you like, okay, this is a little bit more favorable for us this way? I know you're talking about innings limits and stuff like that. But does any thought about the opponent come into this? - Yeah, I mean, we've talked about debuting at home versus the road for both of these players in terms of their 2025 season debut for Kumar has majorly gave you. But at the end, there are only so many games left. And we really, you know, I don't want to put too much thought into this. What I want is to get both of these guys are as much experience as possible in 2024 so that they go into the off season having checked the box of getting back to the major leagues, performing, being healthy, and then they can go have normal off seasons and prepare for the 2025 season. I don't want any mental hurdles, so to speak, in terms of them not pitching in the big leagues this year. And I think that's the most important piece. So, you know, the sooner we do it, the more starts they get. And I think the more it benefits them going into 2025. - What'd you think of the Jack Lider start over the weekend that four seamers seem to be working for him pretty nicely? - Yeah, Jack, he built off the positive momentum from the Yankee game, which was fun to see. And, you know, our expectation, we understood Jack is not particularly refined, but it was going to be a work in progress as it is with most young pitchers, that they don't come up and dominate immediately. So we knew that and we've seen glimpses of it. Now, the key is to continue the development, continue to improve. And I think this last start was a huge step in the right direction. You know, he gave up three runs. Two of them came on a hit by pitch and a walk, so you eliminate those two. It becomes more of a dominant start. So it's just part of the natural progression for Jack. But I think it shows how well this stuff plays at the big league level. And our expectation is that Jack continues to get better and better, the more positive momentum he creates, the more confidence he builds and that his stuff will continue to be refined. And he's going to be a very good Major League pitcher in time. - How possible is it at this point that Jack or Kumar could be part of the rotation start next year? - You know, I think it's a fair question. And I think it's, I can't give you a perfect answer because as I said earlier, it's a performance-based game and they will determine that. And it's, you know, it's going to be up to them to have really good off seasons, to come into spring training in a good place, physically, mentally and then to go out and have good results in spring training. It doesn't mean they need to be mid-season form at the beginning of spring training. But what it means is they need to come in and show that they are ready to earn a rotation spot. And if that happens, you know, these guys are very talented and I have no doubt that if they do what's required in the off-season, they'll put themselves in a very good position to earn spots out of spring training. - Any update on how Corey's doing? - Yeah, Corey's continuing his rehab progression. Actually, there's, you know, we're hoping we'll hopefully get a little more information this weekend, Arizona, the surgeon who did his hernia surgery last year is here in Phoenix. So Corey will see that doctor in the coming days and we'll have a little more information, have a better idea of his timeline. But at this point, I don't have that information. - Our guy Wyatt seems to be a walk-off monster at the plate and in the field. Like when you draft a guy like that, do you know he's got the clutch gene in the DNA? Does that come back in the blood work that you guys do? - Well, it's similar to Kumar and Jack and Josh Young and yeah, a lot of these guys. I mean, you see him perform under pressure and the more and that's why college guys, you know, provide a little bit more clarity and certainty in terms of when you draft a player in college versus high school because you've seen him perform on the big stage in big moments and Wyatt in the college world series last year was phenomenal. He was tremendous and it just seemed like no moment was too big for him. So, you know, it's been fun to see those late inning at bats for him this year and the way he continues to really rise up. - Watch. - See, I've really enjoyed watching Cody Bradford pitch and it seems like it's all about how hard these pitchers throw, but you've got Cody who is getting people out with a sub 90 mile per hour fastball. I mean, what are you seeing as a former pitcher that is making him just so darn effective right now? - Well, it's funny, I'll turn my wife onto the bus a little bit. I didn't know if this, I assumed it was a compliment 'cause Cody, I think Cody is really, really good. He says, watching Cody Bradford reminds me a lot of watching you and I thought, well, here we go, she's gonna talk about lack of velocity and lack of talent, but really what she meant was the competitive poise, the conviction, the certainty, the dependability, the reliability. And Cody brings all of that. I mean, you're not gonna find him more prepared pitcher. You're not gonna find a pitcher who believes in himself more and has the ability to go execute consistently. And he's just so fun to watch. I mean, I'm so proud of him and happy for his success. And he's just mentally as strong as it gets. And that's what big leaguers, good big leaguers are. And Cody embodies that and just been awesome to see his success and we wanna see him continue it and finish strong here. - Speaking of your pitch and days, CY, what was your perspective on Elvis Andrews who we celebrated over the weekend? - Well, I was really happy for Elvis. I mean, that would be a really cool, you know, environment to see him retire a ranger and, you know, just go out and for all the special things that he's done for our franchise and our fans and the special moments, there's no better fit for him in terms of a uniform to retire in. And just really, really happy to see Michael and watch that press conference celebrating Andrew. Elvis, it was, it was really special. So what a fun year for, you know, kind of that era with Adrian and all the wonderful things that have happened with the Hall of Fame. And now Elvis's retirement as a ranger. It's really cool to see. And that's a big part of our history as a franchise. And we wanna celebrate that history. And those guys did really special things. As did, you know, our 2023 team and go forever be a part of Ranger's history and legacy. And we wanna continue to celebrate that. - Hey, CY, you got a couple here in Arizona. Did you pack the three quarter zip championship, you know, attire and you can wear it the two nights there in Arizona to remind those people that you did do 'em. - Yeah, you know, I just got there at zone. It's 108 degrees here. So the three quarters is gonna work. It's gonna be short sleeve here, but, you know, no, I don't wanna remind them they're a really good team. They're fun to watch. They're often explosive. We're gonna have our work cut out for us in this series. And I'm guessing there's gonna be a little bit of, you know, some motivation for those guys, you know, showing us, hey, look what we've done this year. And we're going back to the playoffs. So they're fighting to get back to the playoffs. And, you know, we certainly envy what they've done and how they've bounced back from that World Series loss. But it's a great organization. We've got our work cut out for us. But it is fun being back here. I will say that. - Well, congrats on the success you've had on the diamond here recently. Winners of four straight series. Best of luck in Arizona. Give 'em hell, we'll be pulling for you. See why? - Guys, I appreciate it. Great talking with you. - Cheers. There he goes. Brought to you by PlayScore and Anheuser-Busch. Sebastian Walcott, I've been called up to Frisco as well, youngest player in AA this year. So that's exciting. And just 18 years old, he's a beast. Okay, coming up next, we'll check. Do we have a top 10? What would we like to do here? - Yeah, let's top 10. And it is a victory Monday. We got top 10 thoughts from the Cowboys win over the Browns. That's next to the nation. - Thank you, Lucius. LA live coming up in less than one hour now inside the expressway, five o'clock hour with Lucius every afternoon. Okay, coming up at five, it'll be in addition to the finest. But here's Wolchuck's top 10, Zack with an H. You're woolly boolly. - Thank you, General. I've got our top 10 Cowboys Browns thoughts after the Cowboys started 1-0 yesterday, 3-3-2-17 getting that win over the Browns. - Whoo. - Did you have something, Brian? - No, I was just acknowledging your top 10 list. - Thank you. - Yep, 8-7-7-8-8-1-1-05-3. What were some of your thoughts from yesterday's victory? Had a couple of people say, all right, offense was anemic. Once the corners started biting the lamb inside slant route, go watch the films that's from Mark Sanders on the Twitter. Brian brought us, you did watch the films. Would you agree with that assessment? - Yeah, they struggled a little bit with that. Their corners did a much better job of playing the slants. And I just felt like that to me, there could have been some other things that they could have done a little bit better as far as moving the ball with the receivers. I think the slants are always, early in the game, they hit a couple of them and then they kind of went back to it a little too much. Like you can adjust that, you can bake like you're gonna run. You can run some combination routes off the slant too and throw some things behind that that would have probably been successful. But yeah, it was, the offense in the second half, it was like Mike was just trying to get out of the game. You know, he knew his defense was good enough that they weren't gonna score on him and he's just kind of like, what can I do to kind of maybe keep the clock moving and just not show anything. - Not show any of my cards. I do wonder about the slant stuff though because you can't help but remember the Green Bay game. - Sure. - Where it's interception and it's like the defense knows when it's coming. - For sure. - And towards the end of last season, it felt like that in a lot of ways where defenses knew exactly what buttons you wanted to press. And that's just one example of it's like, okay, we know what's happening now. - And to be fair, Cleveland's got like Emerson and all three of their start corners are really good. Those guys are good players. - They made it a point yesterday to attack Emerson. They made it, they didn't want to deal with the other two with Ward and Newsom. - No. - Did they leave like stop blitzing in the second half? 'Cause it seemed like that touchdown that Cook scored, you know, might've made them realize blitzing deck is a horrible idea. - Yeah, any type of pressure on deck, we've kind of from last year learned that that's his wheelhouse right there. But yeah, it was, they tried to, they really didn't have to, because the way that Dallas was calling the game, it's just what they weren't having the success that they had in the first half. And all of a sudden they said, okay, let's play a little bit more coverage here. Man heavy to start that stuff and then back that thing up. And so, you know, that's where I feel like though that Dallas has got to find a way. I just keep saying this. I wish in the second half the game plan would have been, Mike McCarthy standing from the team and said, okay, second half defense, you're kicking their ass, offense, this is what we're about to do. We're about to load this thing up and we're going to run the football. We're going to see how much we can run the football and kind of get some things going and maybe establish some things here and grind this clock out a little bit and really take Cleveland's will to compete. The defense did a great job of doing that to their offense. - Yeah. - But their defense was still kind of hanging around, hanging around, you know, they're, I'll tell you this. I just wish they wouldn't just in the second half wasn't as bad as it looked. - I do think though, like it really can't be a surprise when maybe the biggest question about the team coming into the season is can you run the ball and in the second half of a game when everyone in the building knows that's what you want to do. - It's a good front set. - You're probably not going to have much success with it. - I think to me where they could have done some different things was I'm not asking them to sit there and run into the brick wall three straight times. - Yeah. - But I'm asking them is to about, okay, throw a little, the waggles, the boots. I mean, you lose Ferguson, you know, you could get, get scoony go and get some of, you know, maybe some of the stuff, the Hunter Lippke, they had Hunter Lippke in the flat a couple of times. You know, you could have done some things with bringing him across the formation, throwing the ball, throwing the ball downfield, opened up some clear outs and things like that. But I didn't, I wish they would have tried to get Deuce Fawn, maybe a little bit more involved, get him some carries. And then with Dattle, get him a few more carries. If you want to protect Zeke, fine. - Sure. - But just, let's see if we can grind out some offense here and move the ball by running it and then throw in some play action stuff off that. - Yeah, well, I mean, look, they got a road win against the team. - It's a nice way off a couple of it. - Nice way, here we go. - There was nothing, they had all their defensive players. - Yeah. - I mean, they were not compromised on defense at all. - You put the Detroit game from last December in there and now the Cleveland game, they're like beating playoff teams in the regular season. - Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a thought. Obviously, Jake Ferguson, big news on that. I mean, you definitely, that's your number two offensive weapon behind C.D. Lamb. You did not want to lose him. Thank goodness that's not something that's serious week to week with that knee. They're calling it a sprain with the MCL. Might just be bone bruise-esque, but either way, look, if you could even give it a go against the Saints, it'd be awesome, but I'm assuming he's probably gonna miss one game. Hopefully he's back for that Baltimore game following week. You're gonna need them. - Yeah, you're gonna need all your horses for that one. - No doubt. Best kicker in football, Brandon Butter Aubrey, dudes in absolute sensation, 57, 50, 46 and 40, made it from bleeping 66. Just didn't count, unfortunately, because, well, the clock ran out. You had a delay game penalty. Maybe that's on the refs, but also regardless, I'd still like to see him I get the time out of it. - Our coach isn't much of a clocksman. So we've known that Aubrey is unbelievable. Coupled with Turpin, you have a real advantage in special teams. The Aubrey stuff is just ridiculous. Move over Justin Tucker. - No revenge. - Yeah, move over the leg of the league in town. - New number one. - Justin Tucker had a bad miss the other night, right? - Yeah, he did. He's not been good from 50 plus lately. - No more power. - No revenge for Amari Cooper. There's like second play of the game. - Should have had to touchdown. - Like, holy crap. - Yeah, he absolutely should have, but just two catches for 16 yards. And sure, your quarterback wasn't very good for him, but I was a little worried about that. We know the route runner Amari is, could he possibly take advantage of maybe Diggs in his first game back, trying to figure out that ACL, Carson and the rookie? No, Amari, not a good day. - Diggs and Carson look great, man. - Carson was-- - The pressure really helped. But those guys, no, no, you're right though. And like I said earlier, I think you got to give overshone and Diggs a lot of credit for coming back 'cause we've all we, I know I've been harping on like, - Well, these guys, it takes five, six weeks. - No, but they're ready to rock. - They were ready to rock. - They were from the job. - I mean, Gallup never got back and Terence Steele did take a year. - Yeah, I mean, player to player, but those two were, hey, they made the most of their off season. How about all the sacks? I mean, it was just a sack party. I know you watched 49 of those bad boys leading up to it, but you got six to watch yesterday there. - Should have been 10. - Probably should have, yeah, you're right. - They should have had 10 sacks yesterday. - It's the one good thing that Watson can still do is kind of shook you off a little bit. - Oh, yeah, yeah, he can be a little slippery there. I know Micah was frustrated there, but man, Demarcus Lawrence was brilliant. Eric Kendrick's was awesome. Micah was fantastic, but the pressure was all day long. - Oh, so Diggs, well, was good too. - Yeah, he's done. - That slivers don't show, but when you watch him play, you're gonna see him involved with a lot of things, the combinations to get pressure. - We've talked about it, but the linebackers were fantastic and over shown deserves a lot of love as well. Finished the game, 11 total tackles, five solo. Kendrick's led the team in tackles, he had the interception, he had two sacks. He was amazing, I liked the little flash that we saw from Maris Lea Fau as well. - Can I say something about the interception that you had? - Yeah. - Gonna give Micah Parsons credit for this one because what happened, Micah quickly read that that ball was gonna come out of Watson's hands fast. So he was blitzing and he saw Watson load up and as soon as Watson load up, he stopped his rush and went straight up knowing that like, okay, if I keep rushed and he's gonna throw it right over my head, but he read that how fast this ball potentially was gonna come out and that's how you got the deflection. - Shot to that Zim defense, man. I mean, that's probably number one on the thoughts. I mean, two of 15 on third down for Cleveland. They had one first down the entire first down. - You're gonna play better off than just going forward, but that's a good start for week one, that was a great way to play. - You deserve your flowers. - Absolutely, and then the offensive line, right? The two rookies, Geiten and Beebe, I was very confident Beebe, obviously, and I've loved what we've seen from Geiten so far, but neither, I mean, he didn't allow Miles Garrett to wreck the game. Both of them, I think you saw tons of good progress. No pressures allowed for Cooper Beebe. You didn't see any poor snaps from him as you noted earlier, the pass block. I think the run blocking to me, like that's something that should be the strength for him. I think he's trying right now to focus to make sure he's good with the pass blocking. I think the run blocking's gonna figure itself out with Cooper and Geiten should get better as well, but really the big thing for me was here in steel. You thought steel looked really good. - Yeah, steel, when you watch the tape, you'll see steel, he got run over one time, it was a sack, you need to grade him for 65 plays, you don't grade him for just one, but that, overall, I felt like that his mobility was good, his in the run block and pass block, and he had to block one-on-one a couple different times, he was able to pin his guy to the outside, I thought it was a good day for him. - And then the final thing here on the top 10 Cowboys thoughts after a 33-17 win yesterday over the Browns, but how about this deja vu nugget from blogging the boys? So last year, season opener, 40-nothing, they went over the Giants. Defense allowed just 265 of total yards. Yesterday, 260 yards of offense allowed with a couple of offensive touchdowns, special teams touched down, they got the special teams touched down last year against the Giants, very dominant defensive performance this week one back-to-back years. - They got two stops on fourth down, it ended being six points, you think about that, two stops, they got 'em and they were, hopefully they were, you know, maybe punched that thing in and got touchdowns out of that, but yeah, it was good that they were able to get that done. - Great stuff, well Chuck, the top 10, most afternoons at 4.20 here in the GBAC Nation Expressways coming up at 5.20, how much of an impression did week one leave on you? What would you need to see to break out of your cowboy cynicism in a cowboy confidence? We'll talk about that coming up at 5.20, where we going next, Chief? 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