00:00We bring to you our Dallas Cowboys insider, Mickey Spagnola. Good morning, sir.
00:06Good morning, gentlemen. How are you doing?
00:08We're doing pretty well. Since we were just talking about this, do you have a particular rooting interest in the
00:13World Series?
00:18You know, growing up an American League fan, I always would pull for the American League.
00:28But when I'm looking at things, I kind of like that Milwaukee team.
00:31See, I'm right there with you, Mickey. I kind of go with styles sometimes, and I like the brand of
00:38baseball the Brewers play.
00:39And so that's where I am at this point.
00:43Yeah, so I'll watch it. I'm a baseball junkie also, by the way.
00:50And I think it's neat that it's not the same teams in all the time like the Yankees and the
00:57Dodgers.
00:58Plus, I grew up despising the Yankees because they always got in the way during my youth of the White
01:04Sox.
01:05That makes sense to me.
01:06The only reason I like the Dodgers winning is because then I could continue to say the last non-Dodgers
01:11team to win the World Series is the Rangers.
01:14So now that's unfortunately out the window.
01:18Actually, and this goes way back, my solace back when I was a really young kid was that in 1959,
01:28the White Sox won the pennant in the American League.
01:33And they were only the second team to deny the Yankees going to the World Series during the decade of
01:41the 50s.
01:42And it was the same manager.
01:45Al Lopez managed the White Sox, and he managed Cleveland in 1954 when they beat out the Yankees to go
01:53to the World Series.
01:55I promise we'll talk football in just one second, but Mickey, do you want me to tell you something amazing
02:01about that World Series?
02:03Which one?
02:04The 1959 World Series.
02:06Go ahead.
02:07I have two tickets from that World Series.
02:12I have a workman's pass from that World Series that someone gave my dad, and he went in as a
02:21workman that he wasn't a workman.
02:23Awesome.
02:24And he hid in the bathroom when they chased all the workers out so he could watch the game.
02:29That is awesome.
02:30See, Kevin, that's amazing.
02:31What's even better is Kevin trying to drop this lore story on Mickey.
02:35My grandparents just went to the game.
02:36That's all.
02:37He's like, I got more lore than you.
02:38That was even cooler.
02:39Thanks, Mick.
02:41Well, you've bested me again, spags.
02:45All right.
02:45I got one more for you.
02:48I kept the scrapbook of all the newspaper clippings from that World Series, but only pictures, no stories.
02:56Oh.
02:56Oh, that's really cool, actually.
02:58It feels disrespectful to your profession.
03:00All right.
03:01So.
03:02The pictures told the story.
03:04Okay.
03:04I got you.
03:05Now, I realize it's early, especially since you won't play until Monday night.
03:10But one of the things that Shoddy said yesterday is they feel good that Overshown will be back and that
03:16Kobe Durant is trending to play.
03:18I wanted to focus in on Durant.
03:20Just how important would his return be for this Cowboys defense?
03:26Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they would use him.
03:31Now, he was starting at corner, right?
03:33But that was before they traded for Joey Porter.
03:37He could go in the slot, but then I kind of like Caleb Downs in the slot, closer to the
03:47line of scrimmage in playing deep safety.
03:51But maybe they would rather Durant go in the slot and Caleb Downs play safety.
03:58I would think that's how that would shake out.
04:01And I think that with the winners probably out at least this week, maybe longer with the strained Achilles,
04:10that Overshown, if he's ready to go, probably steps in as the other inside linebacker, along with Ja'Shawn Barham.
04:19But you know what?
04:20Shemar James didn't play all that bad replacing winners in the game after he suffered the foot injury.
04:29Okay, that's something that I want to keep an eye on and go back and look at then,
04:33because I didn't pay much attention to James in this game,
04:36because I was kind of looking at some other things regarding the pass rush.
04:40And I have to admit, I would be excited to at least see Barham and Overshown play at the same
04:45time,
04:45even if it's not, obviously, every snap.
04:47I would be interested in that combination.
04:49Do you feel like, Mickey, though, with that combination, with Overshown specifically,
04:54you kind of have to temper pretty much everything about him being out there and just kind of relying on
04:59that?
05:00Well, I think that it might affect the nickel defense more than anything else,
05:08because he can use his range, his athletic ability.
05:13You know, I never pictured him as an inside linebacker, like some thumper.
05:20I just don't think he's built for that.
05:23But on the nickel, as a linebacker that maybe can use blitzing from the outside,
05:31blitzing inside, dropping in the coverage with his athleticism,
05:36that might come into play and help.
05:39And, you know, that's what they were kind of looking for with winners on the field.
05:43And, you know, we saw it with the interception return for a touchdown.
05:47Oh, it didn't count, did it?
05:50Sorry.
05:50Oh, man.
05:51Did you go back and watch that play?
05:53Yes.
05:55Thoughts?
05:56The touch was before he completed the catch.
06:02So you think we got jobbed on that?
06:05Well, yeah.
06:09Might have got jobbed on the bland interception that wasn't an interception,
06:14that was an interception that wasn't an interception.
06:17By, like, just by the ruling itself?
06:23Well, how they handled it, right?
06:25Oh, yeah.
06:25Yeah.
06:26That's...
06:26They called an incompletion, then they called an interception,
06:31being, you know, called down from above,
06:34and then it was an incompletion called in from New York.
06:39Mm-hmm.
06:41Mickey...
06:41That stuff only happens to the Cowboys, by the way, when they go to Green Bay.
06:45We always find new and exciting ways to lose games.
06:51Mickey, on a bit of a serious note,
06:53what's your kind of take on the whole Jalen Hurts situation
06:57and what kind of happened there?
06:58Have you kind of dug in on that at all yet?
07:00Well, I mean, I've read, you know, what they've, you know, the prognosis,
07:08what happened.
07:10They called it deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli.
07:17A lot of words.
07:18Meaning a blood clot traveled from his legs to his lungs.
07:22Yeah.
07:23That's serious stuff.
07:24That's scary.
07:25Yeah.
07:27And, by the way, I had to print that out so I could remember all those words.
07:34But, yeah, I mean, you know, done for the season, is he done for his career?
07:41That's fascinating.
07:41Because when you go on blood thinners,
07:44you can't do anything that might cause a cut anywhere on your body.
07:49And so, yeah, which, by the way, do yourself a favor.
07:55You know, things are going badly here at 2 and 4.
07:59Call up talk radio in Philadelphia.
08:02Right?
08:03Nobody is happy, right?
08:05Right.
08:06Sirianni forgot how to coach the organization.
08:09The organization, you know, did Hurts wrong.
08:14The doctors screwed up.
08:17I mean, oh, boy.
08:19It does kind of feel like that.
08:22They're not happy at 2 and 4, and they think the season's over, by the way.
08:24It does kind of feel like the doctors or the Eagles in general did Jalen Hurts wrong.
08:33Somebody misdiagnosed something, right?
08:35Yeah.
08:36I'd be fascinated to know how they're supposed to.
08:38Like, how are you supposed to handle that?
08:41Yeah.
08:42And if they didn't, you know, correctly diagnose the blood clot, how about this?
08:53So I thought this was somewhat funny.
08:55And, look, I understand no one's happy with the Cowboys 2 and 4,
09:00and, you know, they shouldn't be.
09:03You know, they probably should be 3 and 3.
09:06Did you guys do W and L's when the schedule came out?
09:10Yes.
09:11What did you have them at after six games?
09:14I think I had them at 4 and 2.
09:16Okay.
09:19So you had them going to Green Bay and winning a Sunday night game.
09:22I think I did.
09:23I can't remember exactly.
09:24I'd have to go back and look at my chart.
09:26I had them 3 and 3.
09:283 and 3?
09:31So they're sort of – they're the Tampa Bay game off, right?
09:35Or the Giants game.
09:36One of the two, right?
09:37Right.
09:39But I thought this was funny.
09:40And I can't remember what – if it was on ESPN.com or NFL.com.
09:47Giants releasing Harris amid ongoing running back woes.
09:53Titans abruptly released defensive tackle Elliott for undisclosed incident at the facility.
10:02Right.
10:03Right.
10:04McLaurin is carted off Monday night football loss.
10:08Commanders fear significant knee injury.
10:11Evans unable to finish 49ers victory with an Achilles soreness.
10:16Banged up Rams lose star wide receiver Adams for 6 to 10 weeks.
10:22Hurts to miss the season after blood clots discovered in the quarterback's lungs.
10:29Oh, Stephen Jones.
10:31Schottenheimer has our full support.
10:33That was on our show.
10:35Right?
10:35Yeah.
10:36And the only reason he said it, because you asked.
10:39Yeah, that's true.
10:40It is valid.
10:41Yeah.
10:42That's a good point there.
10:43So it's not like he came on and said, hey, we're behind Schottenheimer, right?
10:48Because that feels like that would have been bad, right?
10:50If unprompted, he would have just said, I need to make a statement to begin.
10:54Yeah, guys, that's what the headline sounds like, right?
10:58Yeah.
10:59He came out fully supporting the head coach.
11:02So I know you shouldn't take solace in other people's problems, but nobody's happy in the NFL, right?
11:11Right.
11:11There's always something wrong, even if, you know, look at the commanders.
11:15They were a Hail Mary away from being in second place in the NFC East, because they would have been
11:232-3-1, which is better than 2-4.
11:27Right.
11:28Mickey, I'm kind of curious about looking at some of the tendencies that Schottenheimer has and some of the tendencies
11:38that Dak has.
11:40You see coaches, defensive coordinators, offensive coordinators, they kind of get into a place where things are good,
11:45and then they have to make adjustments to what people are recognizing on them.
11:50Is Schottenheimer struggling to kind of self-scout right now because he's having to pay so much attention to the
11:57defensive side of the ball,
11:58or does he just kind of need to make some adjustments to what other opponents are now doing to them?
12:05Well, they need to figure out why they can't stop the blitzing that's been going on, right?
12:12That's, that's, now, are the offensive linemen not seeing what they need to see and do what they need to
12:19do?
12:21Because there's too many guys coming free inside the tackle position.
12:28You know, normally, you know, you go, okay, the defensive ends are really good and they're getting to my quarterback,
12:35but the blitzes are coming up in the middle, and that's the strength of this offensive line, right?
12:40The two guards in the center.
12:42And so, whatever they've got to fix, they've got to start figuring out what's going on with the blitz pickups.
12:54Are the offensive linemen not doing what they're supposed to do?
12:57Is Dak not seeing it and calling it out at the line of scrimmage?
13:03Or are the wide receivers not recognizing what's getting ready to happen
13:07and cut off their routes to get themselves open more quickly?
13:12I think it's a combination of stuff.
13:15And guess what the Eagles are going to do?
13:17They're going to blitz.
13:18They're coming after Dak on Monday night.
13:20You know, no questions asked.
13:22And they knew the Packers were going to do exactly what Tampa Bay did.
13:26And they did even more so than what Tampa Bay did.
13:32I mean, there were seven-man blitzes, six-man blitzes, five-man blitzes.
13:36They had eight guys or seven guys on the line of scrimmage, and then three would drop off.
13:42But a guy that wasn't on the line of scrimmage blitzed in their place.
13:48So, yeah, they were under attack the whole time, and it worked.
13:53So, you know, somehow, someway last year, they had the second-ranked total offense in the league
14:02by the end of the year.
14:04And we thought, well, it's the defense's fault, right?
14:07And we started the season, well, it's going to be the defense's fault.
14:11Well, now, the offense in consecutive games scored 16 and 13.
14:18You know, you've got to go back to 24.
14:20I might have told you that yesterday, but you've got to go back to 2024 to find the last time
14:26they scored so few points in consecutive games.
14:29And that was with Cooper Rush subbing in for Dak Prescott.
14:34And I think I'm really concerned because of the layout that you just had,
14:39is I do think it's all three of those things.
14:40I think Dak has struggled more than usual, kind of reading some of those blitzes.
14:45I don't think you can blame all of the woes on Terrence Steele.
14:48I don't think Terrence Steele has been good on the offensive line, but I don't think it's only him.
14:53And then I have questions about either cutting off the route or creating quicker separation
14:57for the wide receivers.
14:58So, I'm with you.
14:59I think it's a combo of all three, and that is a scary place to be.
15:03And it's really hard to play quarterback when someone's in your face, play after play after play, right?
15:11For sure.
15:11Or you're taking the number of hits he took, especially the roughing penalties.
15:18You know, I mean, he, I was surprised he finished the game, to tell you the truth.
15:26I could see that.
15:27And the worst thing that happened to him, according to him, is he got the wind knocked out of him
15:33before he threw that interception at the goal line.
15:37But, yeah, I mean, he's taken a beating, and at some point he's not going to get up.
15:43So, they need to make a priority.
15:46You know what?
15:47If you've got to quit going three wide and use two tight ends and, you know, try to operate that
15:52way,
15:52then maybe you've got to do it a little bit more because, yeah, these last two games, that's just not
15:59working.
15:59And you're going to get your quarterback knocked out of the game.
16:04Thank you very much.
16:05As always, good sir, we'll catch up with you again tomorrow.
16:08Aren't you glad I got such bright and positive stuff to talk about?
16:13It's going to be great.
16:14It would feel very disingenuous if you were like, hey, everything is fine.
16:22Well, thank you for that.
16:24You just came on here and he's like, I'm fully back up Schottenheimer.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Okay.
16:28I have a statement to make.
16:29There you go.
16:30Mickey Spagnuolo from DallasCowboys.com.
