00:00We bring you our Dallas Cowboys insider, Mickey Spagnola. Good morning, sir.
00:05Good morning, gentlemen. How's it going?
00:07We're doing very well. Thank you for asking. I hope you are, too.
00:11I saw yesterday, Ryan Flannoy, he talked about the offense having the tough conversations.
00:18If you were leading that discussion, what would those tough conversations be to you with this offense?
00:26Make sure you know how to block a blitz.
00:31We're not good at that.
00:34Well, no. They've been awful the last two games.
00:38And guess what's going to happen Monday night?
00:41They're going to get blitzed.
00:43Yeah. And that's got to improve.
00:47Look, Dak Prescott's in his 11th season.
00:51Listen, I had to go back to 2017 to find consecutive games with a quarterback rating less than 70.
01:00All right?
01:0260s.
01:03These last two games.
01:05He didn't forget how to play football, right?
01:07But when you're getting blitzed unmercifully, the way he has in these past two games, it's pretty hard to play
01:17quarterback when not only are you not getting protection,
01:23at a point you're not trusting it either, which is even worse, right?
01:28Because you're expecting, oh, I don't have much time back here.
01:32I better get rid of this ball.
01:35And so, yeah, if they want to have tough conversations from the wide receiver core, it's like, make sure that
01:44you can identify when a team is blitzing.
01:47And you've got to cut your route off.
01:49You can't go 15, 20 yards down the field because he ain't got time to get you the ball.
01:56So I think it's a collective thing.
01:58It's not just the offensive line.
02:00It's also the wide receivers recognizing what's going on.
02:05Cut your route off and make sure you get open in a hurry so you can have some dump-off
02:12passes.
02:12How much of that, Mickey, is Shottie's going to have to, like, they have to self-scout and revisit this,
02:17too?
02:19Well, self-scout as figure out how the blocking is breaking down.
02:26Yeah, figure out what they've been doing.
02:29Yeah, and the worst part is when you turn guys loose inside, right?
02:34Because now they're, you know, Dak's got no shot.
02:37You know, on the outside, he has a better opportunity to identify or maybe roll away from it if there's
02:45a free rusher.
02:47But when they're coming up the middle like that, it's very difficult for a quarterback.
02:53And to think he's got, what, the last couple games, two touchdown passes and four interceptions?
02:59That's just not him.
03:01That's not this offense.
03:02But teams have devised blitzes, blitz packages that seem to be fooling the Cowboys in consecutive weeks.
03:14Now, something Tyler Smith said yesterday that I appreciate, and I understand his point, like, in the overarching view of
03:22sports,
03:22is it as simple as Tyler Smith said the other day, the answer is to win.
03:28And, like, when you're losing, obviously you deconstruct things probably more than when you're winning,
03:34which I don't necessarily know if that is a good thing.
03:36But he said, look, we can say all the things we want, but the only thing that's really going to
03:40pull this out
03:41is if you get a win and go from there.
03:45Yeah, absolutely.
03:48Especially when you've lost consecutive games.
03:51But that's the first time this year, right?
03:54Two in a row.
03:55They haven't won two in a row, but they've lost two in a row.
03:59So, yeah, you've got to get back to winning and gaining confidence.
04:05You know, I don't know what tough conversations this offense can have other than make sure you know your assignments,
04:13make sure you're executing, especially in the passing game.
04:19You know, when teams line up with seven guys on the line of scrimmage, now that's a load,
04:27but you've got to have adjustments either in the blocking scheme or get out of a play
04:32and get off to a quicker one than maybe you've called.
04:37But it's going to happen again Monday night.
04:40I mean, Fangio's known to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks,
04:44and he might be pressure squared Monday night knowing that the Cowboys have had trouble protecting Dak Prescott.
04:53I saw this morning, maybe I saw it yesterday too, Saquon Barkley might be back.
04:58Looks like he's going to be back for the game Monday night.
05:01Are the Cowboys, have they actually been better at stopping the run,
05:05or are we feeling like they're better at stopping the run?
05:08Well, two of the last three games, the teams didn't rush for more than 62 yards.
05:18Now, the one that they didn't, it was 241, right?
05:24Yeah, that was tough.
05:27It's kind of, kind of trending.
05:30I don't know if we can hang our hat on it when you give up that many rushing yards,
05:35but, you know, a lot of that was that one run, right?
05:38What was it, 72 yards?
05:42So, yeah, a little bit better.
05:45A little bit better putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
05:49I mean, you know, they went, they had two sacks in the first game,
05:54and it was two sacks after three games,
05:58and now they've got six in the last three games.
06:02So, maybe that's a trend.
06:05You know, we'll see having to play a kind of inexperienced quarterback, right,
06:12with Tanner McKee.
06:13Right.
06:14And you've got to take advantage of the lack of experience
06:17and not let those guys get comfortable.
06:20That's got to take place.
06:22That didn't happen when they faced Tampa Bay with Daniels, right?
06:28He was never uncomfortable.
06:30So, I like the fact that it seemed like they were blitzing a little bit more
06:37this past game.
06:38You know, held the Packers to 23 points.
06:42Held the Packers to, what was it, 318 total yards.
06:48You know, goodness gracious, that's a season low.
06:52A lot.
06:53I know they dropped a lot of passes.
06:54That helps out, but still.
06:58So, the defense kind of trending in the right direction.
07:03And, look, you've got to score more than 23, 16 points, 13 points.
07:09You're going to win in this league, right?
07:11So, right now, that's the next problem they've got to solve.
07:15Well, do you think that problem is going to be solved,
07:18and pressure squared is going to be solved,
07:20because we might finally get some Camden Brown, right, Mickey?
07:25Yeah.
07:27That is not the enthusiasm I was looking for.
07:30Yeah, more Cam Brown.
07:31Is it the wide receivers forgot how to play?
07:37Probably not.
07:39I mean, maybe he understands better about cutting routes off
07:47and getting open quicker.
07:49Right.
07:49Now, he's a little more physical at his size.
07:53So, yeah, well, you know, they've been kind of changing things up a little bit,
08:00changed things up a little bit with the tight ends,
08:03and the fact that you're not going to have Turpin out there, right?
08:07Exactly.
08:07So, you needed another wide receiver, and he's basically the next guy up.
08:13Now, we'll see if they integrate him into the offense
08:17or how much he's able to play.
08:21The downside of not Turpin there is I just think they need his speed.
08:27They need his speed as change-ups on offense
08:31and certainly need it on kick returns, which, you know,
08:36at least when he catches the ball, you're sitting there going,
08:40okay, let's go.
08:41So, and now I don't know if they've got a guy that excites you to that extent.
08:47It did kind of feel like on our kickoff and punt returns,
08:51the returners ran as fast as they could but just right into the pile
08:56because they're like, well, I'm going to try to get –
08:58You're right.
08:59They ran as fast as they could into the tackle.
09:02Yeah, absolutely.
09:03But, like, they were like, I'm going to try to get as far as I can,
09:05as fast as I can by going in a straight line and then just running right into the pile.
09:10Is that a fair assertion?
09:13And who knows, that might have been their instruction.
09:16Maybe.
09:17Catch the ball, protect the ball, try to get to the 30-yard line.
09:21What's your feeling on potential usage of Goodson and maybe helping spell Javante?
09:30I know Javante doesn't have a ton of carries on his body so far this year,
09:33but how's Goodson kind of fitting into this thing?
09:36Yeah, it seems like they're giving him maybe like after maybe a long run or a good run
09:45to give Williams somewhat of a break.
09:49He ended up playing 11 snaps on offense.
09:54So, yeah, a little bit.
09:57I don't know exactly what he adds.
10:01I haven't seen enough of him to say, yeah, he needs more carries or he needs more snaps.
10:07So, I think that, you know, and it's hard to use two running backs
10:14when it's hard to use one when you fall behind by 17 points.
10:18Yes, that is true.
10:20Unless you want to, like, stay committed to it.
10:23And I know what the cry out there is.
10:26You've got to run the ball.
10:27You've got to run the ball.
10:28I can't remember which game I was watching.
10:31The team was down at least two scores in the fourth quarter,
10:35and they ran the ball, and everybody in the stands started booing.
10:40So, Mickey, I definitely hear your point there,
10:44and you're right about 17 to nothing.
10:46If I can play some devil's advocate here,
10:49that didn't happen until the last two minutes of the second quarter.
10:53So, for the vast majority of the first quarter,
10:55it was still, like, within reach,
10:58and it feels like they're abandoning the run the second they fall behind it all,
11:03whether it's a one-score game, two-score game.
11:06They're just like, all right, well, we're losing, so we can't run the ball, really.
11:10Well, when you're not running it well, I mean,
11:13what did they have in the first half running the football?
11:18Well, they had eight carries for 21 yards.
11:23Did that encourage you to keep running?
11:26Not really, but the passing game wasn't encouraging me either,
11:30so it seems like the passing game will get all of the leeway in the world,
11:34and I get that to a certain extent.
11:37Is that because of the weapons that you have committed there?
11:39Yeah, because of the weapons and because of Dak,
11:40but it feels like if we get a negative play,
11:43we're like, well, we can't run the ball anymore.
11:46Well, all I know is when you get to at least, you know,
11:51maybe the third quarter you should run the ball more,
11:53but in the fourth quarter, just remember, the clock's ticking, right?
11:57Oh, I hear you on that for sure.
11:59Yeah.
12:00No, I definitely want to establish that a little earlier in the game.
12:04I know you said eight for 21.
12:06I would maybe like 14.
12:08I would like to, but again, they have to keep those drives extended,
12:11and they've got to convert those third downs to be able to do it.
12:15Get 14 for 42?
12:17Yes.
12:18Hell yeah!
12:19See, Mickey?
12:20I'll take the 42.
12:21Yeah, I'll do that for sure.
12:23Here's the way I've always thought about it, Mickey.
12:25That's three yards of carry.
12:27You have to go to fourth down every time,
12:28but that means just a run of first downs, you know what I'm saying?
12:32If you can get those three yards of carry, right?
12:34That's fair.
12:35That's what we're shooting for here.
12:37That is fair.
12:39Thank you very much.
12:41I think the seduction process is C.D. Lamb and George Pickens are pretty good.
12:49Absolutely.
12:51I've got to get the ball to those guys, and teams know that,
12:56and that's why they're blitzing, because they're saying,
12:59if I control Dak Prescott, that's how I cover those two guys,
13:03because I probably can't cover them in man for four quarters, right?
13:08Right.
13:08So they're saying Dak's not going to beat me.
13:12And so far, the last two teams are winning the bet.
13:16That is seductive.
13:17That is for sure.
13:18You're absolutely right.
13:19We love your choice of words on that, Mickey.
13:21We will catch you again tomorrow.
13:23Good sir.
13:25All right.
13:26I'll be here.
13:27See you.
13:27And, oh, by the way, are the Mavericks going to win a game this year?
13:30Okay.
13:30Here's just one game.
13:32Look, this is the start of it all.
13:34That's a fair question, though.
13:35A lot of work to do.
13:36That second quarter was tough.
13:39I try not to be the overreaction guy, right?
13:43All right, Woody.
13:44Okay, here's my question for you, then.
13:45What do you think look worse, the Mavericks' second quarter offense
13:48or the Cowboys' offense against the Packers?
13:53I think it might be a tie.
13:56Oh, man.
13:56Bush.
13:57That's the most depressing sports tie ever.
13:59Thank you very much, Mickey.
14:02Thank you, guys.
