00:00We go inside the star here on your home of America's team,
00:04Sean Treve, RJ Choppy, and Cowboys insider Bobby Belt on DFW Sports Station.
00:09Thanks for being a total.
00:09That stands for Turn It On, Leave It On.
00:12Troy Aikman saying maybe it'd be better if the Cowboys scored a little bit less?
00:16That's what it sounds like, which is so odd.
00:19So the Miami Dolphins front office executive, Troy Aikman,
00:22was asked to talk about the Cowboys for some reason yesterday
00:25on Get Up with Mike Greenberg,
00:26and he was kind enough to actually answer it.
00:29So this is a lengthier answer,
00:32but this is Troy Aikman talking on ESPN about where the Cowboys have improved
00:38and the initial question being, where do things stand with the defense?
00:43Yeah, you know, I think so.
00:44I mean, that is the big question.
00:46They can only get better.
00:48I do, and it's early, I understand that,
00:51but I do like the hire of Christian Parker.
00:53I think sometimes you bring in a young assistant who now is getting his opportunity
00:58after having coached under some really good people over the course of his career.
01:02He comes in with a good resume.
01:04All indications are that the players are excited about it.
01:07I think what they've done, starting with the draft,
01:10to address some of those needs on the defense has been positive.
01:14What I think Greeny gets lost a little bit, the offense was so prolific last year,
01:19and then you've got a healthy Dak Prescott.
01:21And unfortunately for them, we saw it with Joe Burrow and the Bengals a couple of years ago,
01:26when you have that kind of play at the quarterback position,
01:30typically that means good things when the season comes to an end.
01:34And yet for Dallas, they failed to even make the postseason.
01:36Can that offense continue to play at the level that they did last year?
01:41And that's a big if.
01:42It was one of Dak Prescott's best years.
01:45It was George Pickens' career year.
01:48It was Javante Williams' career year.
01:50I mean, there was a lot that happened on the offensive side of the ball.
01:53The numbers may not look as good.
01:55In fact, I think if you're a Cowboys fan, you hope the offensive numbers don't look as good
01:59because that would then mean that the defense is better
02:02and playing a much bigger role in the success of that team.
02:07This is something that we've talked about recently.
02:09I mean, not so much the idea of that means the defense is improved.
02:12I don't know if a lack of numbers means the defense is playing better.
02:15I would assume more numbers because you get more possessions
02:18or you're not having to – you get more time for the offense on the field.
02:21But in general, the broader point that there's this assumption –
02:27I can't remember if KNC said it the other day.
02:29Maybe it was Gbag.
02:30They were talking about the Cowboys' offense
02:32and how they expected it to be better this year.
02:34And I was like, it's possible, but I think the reasonable expectation is
02:39it's not going to be as good this year.
02:41And that's not for any sort of –
02:42What were the reasons for it?
02:45That they think it's just another year of the offensive line.
02:47And again, I can't remember which show made the point,
02:49but another year of the offensive line.
02:52Brian Schottenheimer setting into comfortability in the second year.
02:55Jaden Blue maybe taking another step.
02:57It was those sort of things.
02:58But I think that the likelihood of you getting 17 games of Dak Prescott healthy again
03:05is not that high.
03:07I think the likelihood that Javante Williams and George Pickens play as well
03:12as they did last year is not that high.
03:15And they were very fortunate to weather some really difficult moments
03:20with the offensive line last year.
03:23Where that Jets game, I think it was, that they had four of their starters out
03:28and they still managed to get by.
03:30There were a few games last year where it's like protection's a problem
03:32or your tackle's out of the game and you were still able to push the ball downfield.
03:36That's a lot of different things that clicked into place last year
03:38that I don't think it's likely that you can bank on it this year.
03:42I think the only thing, the only issue, the only question is Dak's health.
03:46That's it.
03:46When he is healthy, this team pretty much is what it is offensively.
03:51It's 27 to 28 to 29 points a game.
03:55If you go back and you look at the last, what, since 2021,
03:58outside of the 2024 season, they're scoring 27 or more every year per game.
04:07That offense is what it is.
04:09The only question to me is the health.
04:11That's the only thing that you – it's not George, it's not Javante,
04:14it's Dak play 17.
04:16If he doesn't play 17 – and I don't want to say – I'll say 15 and a half, right?
04:20You know, because you can – I assume everyone's going to miss a game at some point, right?
04:25They're going to put up the same kind of offense.
04:27They always do.
04:28They will be good.
04:30They're a good offense regardless.
04:31I don't think the question is, will they be good again?
04:34They may suck next year on offense.
04:36It's more the question of, are they going to hit that level of just,
04:39wow, they are rolling and they can keep up with anybody.
04:42Buddy, there may be games where I think we're looking at it and going like,
04:45okay, it was just – I think small regression is likely.
04:49And not to the point where they're outside of being a top 10 unit or anything,
04:52but some small regression is likely.
04:54Yeah, a lot of Tolos have been like, why are you guys just skipping over the offense?
04:58This is too much of an assumption.
04:59I'm assuming as well – you know, my only worry with the offense is the tackles,
05:04with the number one by far biggest question and concern being left tackle.
05:10And I don't even have a close number two.
05:12I guess the close – I guess the number two would be Terrence Steele,
05:15but number one with Guyton this year moving forward is my number one worry.
05:21Yeah, it's something where the fact that we probably haven't focused enough
05:27whenever we talk about the offensive line,
05:30the idea of what the hell were they doing at the end of the year?
05:34Like, Guyton couldn't get out there.
05:37Then he was shut down for the end of the year.
05:39Then Tyler Smith has this weird interaction with them
05:42where he doesn't seem to want to play tackle,
05:44but they're making him play tackle anyway.
05:45And it's like, why are you making him play tackle
05:47when the season's already settled unless you're trying to figure out,
05:50is this something we want to do moving forward?
05:52And then they were really coy about what was the purpose for that.
05:56Eh, you know, we're just trying some things out.
05:57And we're going to address it.
05:58Yeah, okay, but is that – are you – is that your plan?
06:01Is that what you – and they wouldn't answer it.
06:03They were very vague about it.
06:05But I think heading into the, you know, training camp practices,
06:08heading into these off-season practices,
06:11like the first part of their program yesterday with the veterans being involved,
06:16I would say that I think it's – it is a Nate Thomas, Tyler Guyton competition
06:21at left tackle, and Terrence Steele's got right tackle,
06:25and you're just hoping that the line solidifies and plays at a high level.
06:30877-881-1053.
06:32Troy, I've been saying maybe have the numbers be a little bit less prolific,
06:36and that means that there's not as much on their plate,
06:40and the defense is stepping up.
06:41Todd Archer says that the defense is basically complete now.
06:44Yep.
06:45Archer wrote over at ESPN about the Christian Parker edition,
06:49and this is something that we've heard a lot about in terms of just –
06:54we can see the excitement on their face and different things like that.
06:57But it's more than that.
06:58There's a – there is a buzz that exists over there right now in Frisco
07:02from other people in the building who are like,
07:04this is just a different approach to defense than we've ever had.
07:07This is something that we think if he's – if he's what we think he is,
07:11then this defense is going to be good naturally,
07:13and we're going to be able to maximize and get the most out of guys.
07:16But he writes that the makeover of the Cowboys' defense is complete.
07:19Oh, they can still add a piece here or there,
07:21but with the culmination of the NFL draft, the heavy lifting is certainly done.
07:25There's anticipation inside the star about the ability of the defense in 2026,
07:30and not just because things can't be worse than they were in 2025.
07:34Some of it is tied to the new players, but most of it is tied to Christian Parker.
07:38He has some quotes there from Schottenheimer during his availability.
07:41He said this week will be the first time Parker will be on the field with the full team
07:45as the Cowboys begin Phase 2 of the offseason program.
07:47It's only on-field teaching sessions without any competitive periods,
07:51but it will be where Parker brings the defense from the classroom to the field.
07:56At the recent rookie minicamp, Parker walked between position groups,
07:59observing the other assistants teaching.
08:01At different times, he got involved in a hands-on way when it came to technique with downs
08:05or where third-round linebacker Jayshon Barham's positioning was supposed to be in a certain drop.
08:10Schottenheimer has called Parker an elite coach.
08:12And I think that's the thing you are hearing pretty consistently from people over there
08:17when you talk about, like, hey, how's the Parker thing going?
08:19How's that transition going?
08:21Is they love that he's delegating the right sort of way and then stepping in where he needs to.
08:27And Shotty had talked about that.
08:28I think we played the clip.
08:29Coaching the coaches.
08:30Where Shotty had said his problem when he was a coordinator that young was micromanaging
08:35and getting involved too much and meddling and overseeing.
08:39And instead, they're like, no, Christian feels like he knew all these coaches really well.
08:43Like, knew what kind of teachers they could be.
08:46He put them in place to do that and to delegate and to handle things.
08:49And that he's going to manage a larger scheme and then drill down when he needs to.
08:54I love to say that's a good sign.
08:56You'll get some coaches who just want to be so hands-on.
09:00There's nothing wrong with that.
09:01It's just the way they do it.
09:02But then you get other ones who, what they're great at is coaching the coaches.
09:08Not necessarily coaching the players.
09:10They coach the coaches on what to coach the players.
09:13Because they can, you know, it's much easier to do it.
09:15Just look at school.
09:15It's easier to teach six kids than 20.
09:19Right?
09:19It's probably easier.
09:20Right?
09:21It's probably easier to teach, you know, seven players in a position group than 25 guys.
09:28Yeah, it 100% is.
09:30And also, I think it's just from Christian Parker's own experience.
09:32He became a coordinator at 34 because coaches trusted him like that.
09:35Like, he was allowed to manage his area and he was allowed to be on top of it.
09:38And I think he just has learned from coaches that similarly allowed him to flourish and grow to the profile
09:45he had.
09:45Well, if you're worried about the defensive turnover, justifiably so.
09:48I did take this from Archer's piece.
09:50In 2020, Mike McCarthy's first year, they finished 28th in points allowed with Mike Nolan.
09:57In 2021, Dan Quinn was brought in.
10:00They finished 5th in points allowed.
10:03They also had seven new starters on defense.
10:07That also included Micah, though.
10:10So, when you're looking at these numbers, 7-8, not 6-7, 7-8 new possible starters.
10:18Just six years ago, we saw this defense go from 28th to 5th in points allowed.
10:24So, it can be done.
10:26Yeah, and you mentioned that, first off, stunning that there were four teams that allowed more points than Mike Nolan's
10:32defense.
10:32That doesn't seem real.
10:34But the sense in here where he says they hope that Downs can have a similar impact on the 26th
10:40defense in a different manner than Parsons,
10:42it's like, wow, that's serious expectations.
10:45Because Micah was, you go back and you watch highlights of Micah when he was first starting to break out
10:50as an edge rusher, as a rookie.
10:51It's terrifying.
10:53It's this sense from everybody of like, oh my gosh, we don't know how to stop him.
10:58And obviously, it's a different impact.
10:59It's a different form of execution.
11:01But if they're trying to say Downs, they're hoping, can have a 28-5 type of impact that Parsons did,
11:08that's huge expectations.
11:10How many sacks, Micah's rookie year, RJ?
11:14Why do I feel like the number was like 11 or something?
11:17No.
11:1813?
11:19It was always like 13 or 14 every year he was here, basically.
11:2213 his rookie year.
11:25That's how he got Zach Wolchuk's beard shaved.
11:27Zach tried to bet that Micah would get 15 sacks one year, and I was like, he won't.
11:32That's just not what he does.
11:34Well, I mean, he gets 14.
11:36Right.
11:37He falls one short, though.
11:3813-13.
11:39I wouldn't be bragging so much about Cowboys sack opinions after what your head went through.
11:46Well, fine.
11:47Yeah, we're one of one.
11:48A little one-on-one on that.
11:50Hey, if you're hitting 500, Rangers would love that.
11:52That's right.
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