- 2 days ago
Shan, RJ, and Bobby analyzed Brian Schottenheimer's comments from yesterday's presser. They discussed Schotty's remarks about being more involved, and listened to Dak’s thoughts on offensive improvements. They also and debated whether playoff success is the final major question he still needs to answer.
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00:00Cowboy OTAs yesterday, Brian Schottenheimer was asked about what he is better at in year two.
00:07And he said, look, we obviously need to get more wins.
00:12I think the culture is better.
00:14I'm more involved in the defense and special teams early on.
00:19So that's Brian Schottenheimer talking about his adjustments.
00:22Said he's going to switch things up with a practice schedule in Oxnard.
00:26But that was shot yesterday.
00:27Why are you smiling?
00:28Because that's an indictment.
00:31That was last year what we talked about.
00:33The idea of like, okay, was it an indictment that you needed to go over and spend time in the
00:38defensive meeting room?
00:39Well, you wouldn't think that you would need to.
00:42Right, you wouldn't think that you would need to.
00:43But was it an indictment that you wouldn't have to spend time in the meeting room?
00:46Or that that was when you did it was like in week five?
00:50Like, should you have been in there earlier?
00:52So Shotty right there, I guess, is telling us I should have been in there earlier just to like,
00:56or been more present to make sure everything was running the way it needed to be running?
00:59Said they did not spend a lot of time on ball security last year.
01:03Again, he looked like he wanted to puke at the podium when talking about, I think, minus nine.
01:09With the turnover differential said absolutely unacceptable.
01:13And then Dak Prescott was asked with some audio, DallasCowboys.com, where he thinks the offense needs to improve.
01:20And Dak did not hesitate.
01:23Yeah, red zone.
01:23I mean, just plain and simple red zone.
01:25I mean, we talked about it last year throughout the year.
01:27And so you get into the offseason, you look at the numbers.
01:29I don't remember exactly what it was.
01:31But one of them were, I think, 30th in some red zone ranking.
01:34And that's just unacceptable, especially with the players we have, the talent we have, the coaches we have, the schemers.
01:41So that was put on notice for everybody.
01:43Put on notice, the whole unit.
01:44And we're all, yeah, pushing not only to get better than that, but as you said, every aspect.
01:48But that's a place that you have to get better at.
01:50Thank God you paid the kicker a bunch of money then.
01:52Thank God you got him back.
01:54Now you can continue to have that red zone percentage.
01:57Oh, no.
01:57Man, that is stupid.
01:58The red zone is.
01:59That is the red zone percentage.
02:01It's field goals take away from your red zone percentage.
02:04It's the offense's fault that they're.
02:06We're getting them in a fourth and three.
02:07We're not good enough that they were in the red zone.
02:09That's the offense's fault.
02:11I'm going to blame Brandon Aubrey because the offense couldn't get it done.
02:15I'm going to blame the usage of Brandon Aubrey and then the play call he leading up to it.
02:19Look, I bet you you could find a correlation between the Super Bowl champ and where they are in the
02:24red zone touchdown percentage.
02:26It's probably pretty fair that most of the Super Bowl champs are in the top, like, eight, right?
02:33In red zone touch and conversion.
02:34You know, like, it probably makes sense.
02:36And sometimes teams pop.
02:39You know, we have seen year to year that red zone percentage.
02:42Now, look, it's stable for Tom Brady.
02:45Right?
02:45Tom Brady almost always was high in the red zone percentage.
02:48Right?
02:49It's stable for certain guys.
02:51But for your average or your non-all-time great quarterbacks, teams, whatever, you know, it is a little bit
02:58– there's a little more variance to red zone and how you are year to year.
03:02It doesn't always carry over.
03:05I'm looking at the numbers for last season.
03:08It looks like Philadelphia led the way at 70%.
03:11That would make a lot of sense.
03:13The tush push changes things for them, right?
03:15It's kind of a cheat code.
03:16Yep.
03:16Buffalo, 67%.
03:19Cincinnati, Allen.
03:21Cincinnati, San Fran, Washington, Indy, Rams, Detroit, Jacksonville, Atlanta were your top 10.
03:31The Cowboys were here at 16 with a 57% conversion.
03:36I think I'm getting that right.
03:38That's from TeamRankings.com.
03:39But I think Dak was talking about being 30th in some of the different categories, so I don't know.
03:44I think it was probably – because like I said, he's had one of these rings.
03:47I don't think it was just the raw red zone ring.
03:48I think it was one of these analytics ones.
03:49This is just touchdowns only.
03:53Meanwhile, ESPN.com with the biggest remaining questions for every quarterback in the league.
04:00Yeah, and for the Cowboys, the question is, can Dak finally add playoff success to his resume?
04:07And the write-up is, this is his 11th season.
04:10He's got a record of 83-55-1, 2-5 in the postseason.
04:15The eighth time, he's played at least 12 games.
04:17But this is the first of those eight, which Dallas had a losing record in.
04:22So every other year he played 12 games or more, they had a winning record.
04:26We've talked about that.
04:27Like when the Cowboys have had a healthy quarterback.
04:28Yeah.
04:29Basically, since they moved on from Quincy and they basically brought Romo in, they've –
04:35The GOAT.
04:36Right?
04:36When they've had a healthy quarterback, they've been 8-8 or above.
04:42It's easy for fans to wonder whether he'll ever attain the postseason success they expect,
04:47especially if they struggle to even contend for the postseason.
04:49But if we assume the defense has improved and he stays healthy, they should be in good position to return
04:54to the playoffs.
04:55It might not be totally fair to pose a question that can't be answered until January,
04:59but he's one of the most established trend starters in the league.
05:02There aren't many more questions for him to answer, except for the big one.
05:06So I thought this was a dart right in the middle of the bullseye, but you disagree.
05:12Well, here.
05:14What bothers me is –
05:15That's like my literally only remaining question left with him.
05:18It's – so I guess the question is, can he become Superman?
05:23I don't think – and I don't even think that's a question.
05:26I don't think he can become Superman.
05:27Like, Superman is the guy who is – who's Josh Allen, puts the cape on, leads you to a Super
05:32Bowl.
05:32Like, just him.
05:34Why does –
05:34Which Josh Allen can't do either.
05:36Josh hasn't done that either yet.
05:37Why does he have to be Superman?
05:39Why does he have to become Superman?
05:40Yeah.
05:40Oh, he doesn't.
05:41No, no, he doesn't.
05:42I'm saying I don't think he's – I don't think he's – that's not him.
05:45Okay.
05:45I don't think he's at that level.
05:47Like, that level is for the GOATs.
05:48The GOAT of the GOATs.
05:50Okay.
05:51But to me, that's a separate conversation.
05:53Yeah, I don't need Dak to advance to the NFC Championship game or even a Super Bowl to be able
06:00to say,
06:01I believe that he can win in the playoffs.
06:03I believe – Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl.
06:06I believe Dan Marino could have won a Super Bowl looking back at his career.
06:09Yeah, well, he got to one.
06:10Yeah, he got to one.
06:11Dak hasn't come close.
06:12Dak hasn't come close.
06:14I don't think that – if you say – if you were to just ask me, you know, do I
06:20think Sam Darnold can win a Super Bowl?
06:22I literally just saw him win a Super Bowl.
06:23And I still would tell you I don't think Sam Darnold can win a Super Bowl.
06:26Like, as the guy.
06:27You know, when you're along for the ride, that is totally different.
06:32I don't think Dak is the upper top tier of player to where you put this on him.
06:41Like, I've said before, he's not a legacy player.
06:44Who can he just absolutely – who do you think he just absolutely not, let's say?
06:49But I thought this was a fair question.
06:51This would be a fair question for Romo.
06:53And I think you can have a Dak-Romo fun comparison and conversation.
06:58So, do you disagree with that?
07:00To say, will Tony Romo ever be able to ball out in the postseason and get a lot of playoff
07:06wins?
07:07Is that unfair to have asked of him?
07:10No, no, no.
07:10It's not unfair.
07:11No, it's not unfair.
07:12I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't need Dak to advance to a Super Bowl to know
07:17that he's good enough to win the playoffs.
07:20Okay.
07:21You don't believe there's a difference with him performing in the postseason.
07:26Not necessarily.
07:26That's what you're saying.
07:27You don't think there's such a thing as, like, playoff game performances?
07:31You've already made up your mind he's good enough.
07:33I believe he's good enough.
07:34Yeah, because if you think – and Bobby said he's better than Jared Goff, who's been to two NFC Championship
07:39games.
07:40So, if Jared could go to two, then Dak is good enough to go to some.
07:45He just hasn't.
07:46The whole thing is, just because he hasn't gone doesn't mean he can't.
07:50Yeah, but he hasn't played great.
07:51I think we're now reverting back to a –
07:54He hasn't played consistent.
07:54He's had games where he has played great in the postseason.
07:57Okay, well –
07:58Like that Ram game, you know, in 2018.
08:02It's not been consistent, no.
08:04But, I mean, he's shown capability to play at a high level in playoff games.
08:07Well, Dak against Green Bay was not it.
08:09Dak against San Francisco, no.
08:12Dak was fantastic, I remember, I believe, against Tampa Bay and Brady.
08:16Dak against San Fran, dud.
08:18Bud, the Rams game, I don't remember him being spectacular or anything fantastic in that game.
08:24I was at the Seattle game well.
08:26Brian, Dr. Pepper, feel free for another invite.
08:29That was no offensive shootout.
08:31I'm not saying he played terrible.
08:32But it wasn't like Dak Prescott had a great playoff game in that moment.
08:37I think what we're kind of reverting back to now, which I thought you had kind of changed your mind
08:42about this, is clutch.
08:44I think you're removing, like, playing in the playoffs from this discussion because Dak has really good regular season numbers.
08:53Yeah, like I –
08:54You don't believe that anything changes upstairs with him or in his body or nerves-wise when he plays a
09:00postseason game.
09:01And I think that is a major question and concern amongst Cowboy fans.
09:05It's a question in my mind.
09:07When they're trying to win playoff games, what's he going to do?
09:11I think the issue is –
09:14I believe that you come down, not necessarily go up, right?
09:18So that's my clutch thing.
09:18I don't think you rise to that.
09:20But –
09:21Like, Kyrie Irving folded in Boston.
09:24He folded.
09:25And everyone knew he was going to fold.
09:27And he got shut down.
09:29And he wilted.
09:30I think Dak's issue is the playoffs are against good teams.
09:36That's where he has or has had – and the Cowboys in general, they have had their struggles.
09:42They do not play up very well.
09:45They're bullies.
09:46Yeah.
09:46You know, we've talked about them being bullies.
09:48And, yeah, I don't know if it's a playoff thing or just a good team thing.
09:52And sometimes it goes hand in hand.
09:53But we've seen enough games in the regular season where they've played good teams.
09:56They've laid some eggs.
09:58A lot.
09:58I don't have any confidence in the Cowboys against –
10:01If they face Brian Flores tomorrow, Brian Flores is going to shut them down.
10:05Yeah, I think –
10:06If they – in my opinion, they face a really –
10:09The Houston Texans are probably going to shut them down.
10:12That's what's going to happen.
10:13I agree.
10:14Very rarely can I remember coming in here and going,
10:16When they face a great defense and they equaled or won the matchup offensively.
10:24I totally agree with that.
10:25And I think that's – I think it's more that than playoffs.
10:29The problem is that that's all you face in the playoffs is good teams.
10:33You don't face scrubs.
10:34Well, you don't face great defenses all the time.
10:36Not all the time.
10:37A lot of teams without great defenses.
10:39But, you know, good teams you've got to go shot for shot with sometimes.
10:43And he hasn't necessarily done that.
10:45And those Niner teams – those Niner teams were pretty nasty.
10:48They may not have been, like, the most elite defenses in the world,
10:52but they would punch you in the face.
10:53Yeah.
10:53Yeah, I mean, San Francisco made it difficult on teams.
10:57They made the Super Bowl a couple times or whatever.
10:58But, like, yeah, does he need to play better in the postseason?
11:01Yeah.
11:02Like, he needs to be more consistent.
11:06Like, the whole thing with him is that – like, even the very first Green Bay game,
11:10like, that was a – like, that was an impressive battling back
11:14and getting you in a position.
11:15And he put up good numbers and he played well.
11:17But, like, early on, they just didn't do enough.
11:19And so they were in a hole because he wasn't doing enough.
11:21And so even within the games where he's played well, it's not been –
11:25it's not been good necessarily for the entire game.
11:28Like, there are times where it's like there's – you're forced to rally a little bit.
11:32But, like, is he – is it impossible for him to win a Super Bowl?
11:37No.
11:38Like, he can absolutely – like, he has the capacity to do it.
11:40It's just the question of –
11:42Basically –
11:42If you just look at it as, like, a talent thing,
11:44he has the capacity to win a Super Bowl.
11:46Agreed.
11:46If you then look at it from the perspective of does he have the makeup
11:51and the conference and the opponent – because all of that's going to give the context
11:55as to whether – you have to lay it out for him and say,
11:57okay, here are the opponents that he's going to have to face along the way.
11:59Okay, here's the teammates that he's got.
12:02Like, this is the roster that he has.
12:03This is who he'd play in the Super Bowl.
12:04If you lay that out for him, then I'd go, like, yes or no.
12:06Like, I would be able to tell you if I thought he'd be able to rise to that.
12:10Yeah.
12:10Oh, for sure.
12:11Like, I think if you put them up against Philly in the playoffs,
12:14he knows how to beat Philadelphia.
12:15All right, let me see.
12:15I want to see right now.
12:16I got to look.
12:17Let me look and see what Darnold ran up against last year.
12:19It was the Niners.
12:20It was the Rams.
12:21New England, Rams, San Fran, and L.A.
12:25His numbers were—now, but again, I don't think it's as simple as saying—
12:31When it's 41-6, I don't expect him to throw necessarily—it could be either way.
12:35It could be up so much and they run the ball.
12:36Yeah, but I don't think the argument is as simple as saying,
12:39well, Trent Dofer got a ring, so can Dak Prescott—
12:44Yeah, I kind of just boil it down to, all right, what do I believe Dak is going to do
12:49in these games and in these moments?
12:52And he has to elevate.
12:54He has to be better.
12:56Yeah, he's not—
12:57I have a question mark—I'll say it flat out.
13:01It's hard to get inside a player's head and choke and clutch and all those things.
13:05I have a question about Dak Prescott's mental, if we get there.
13:13I have a little question.
13:14It's not a—it's not a—I'm not—I'm not thinking he's going to wilt, but I wonder.
13:19I mean, and I don't blame him 100%.
13:23There's a lot of people in serious pressure moments who change and don't always have a Tom Brady, Derek, Jeter,
13:31Gene in the clutch.
13:32I have a question about Dak in big, big, big moments when it comes to the postseason, what he's going
13:38to do.
13:39That's an existing question for me right now.
13:42I think—I don't have a question about his mentals.
13:45I think that he's—I think he's mentally one of the tougher players out there, and I think he can weather
13:50that moment.
13:51I think the bigger issue to me has been San Francisco has been just a team—regular season or not, he
13:56doesn't play well against.
13:57He caught them a couple times.
13:58They did to him what they always do to him.
14:02And then the Green Bay game, that was collectively everybody—including Dak—collectively everybody just looking like they gave up on that
14:11season.
14:11Like, they just walked in and were just like, okay.
14:13Like, none of them looked like they gave it to him that day.
14:16And so those—like, a lot of that I feel like—those performances that I see, it's like, I feel like I
14:21see that from him the regular season against San Francisco regardless.
14:23Like, that's how he plays against them.
14:26877-881-1053.
14:29Rashawn Gary was asked about the makeup.
14:33Was this NFL Network?
14:34Yep.
14:34Good morning football.
14:35Rashawn Gary asked what is standing out about No. 4 early on.
14:40Man, me and Dak, man, he's a true leader from top to bottom.
14:45I'm talking about—I'm driving in.
14:47I'm trying to pick up some cleats.
14:49Just a short time is, like, right before, you know, the off-season program begins.
14:53And he seizes me.
14:54And he's driving out.
14:55He didn't have to, but he backed all the way up, got out the car, and introduced himself.
14:59I'm like, I know you are.
15:00Things like that.
15:01Got to—gave him my number.
15:04And we started talking from there.
15:06But that's just a true leader, man, day in and day out.
15:08And I haven't seen a guy like this.
15:10And I see why guys, you know, it's easy to go to work for a guy like that.
15:14I think that does—we had talked about this before, that when you speak to players about, like, the whole thing,
15:20like,
15:20okay, what are you not saying when you, like, gravitate towards the leadership stuff so easily?
15:24And I remember that was something that Brandon Cooks had said.
15:27He's like, you think it's something that we're not saying.
15:30We're trying to—it's what you're not getting, which is, like, you're trying—you don't understand how impactful that is for us.
15:34It's like, it's similar to what Dalton Schultz said, where he's like, the confidence that, like, breathes into everybody else
15:39is significant,
15:40and it's a real psychological impact, and that's why it stands out to so many people.
15:44All right, the other questions, by the way, remaining—I guess we can just do the quarterbacks in the NFC East
15:50from ESPN.com.
15:51Can Jackson Dart learn how to protect himself?
15:54He's saying all the right things with his brand-new head coach, who is emphasizing, like John Gruden did when
16:00Dart was coming out,
16:02to get down and protect.
16:05Is Jalen Hurts—you got something on that?
16:07Well, that's like, for a quarterback that is used to running or playing that style,
16:14I imagine that that is a really difficult thing to kind of coach out of them.
16:21For the main point that when you do that, you are taking an instant the way you're putting thought in
16:26their head.
16:26It's a lot of assumption, though, that the biggest question about Jackson Dart and his career at this point is,
16:31like,
16:31can he just protect himself?
16:32If he protects himself, he's a superstar.
16:34It's like, what?
16:35That's a lot of assumption and belief.
16:37This glazing, just licking up and down on the New York Giants is ridiculous.
16:42It would seem that a lot of people have already made their minds up on him.
16:45They made up their minds on the Giants, and I think it's freaking ridiculous.
16:49But it's also, like, when you start telling a quarterback to think instead of instinctively doing things,
16:54you know, I think you slow down their process a little bit.
16:58Is Jalen Hurts' future in Philly on the line this season?
17:05And Big Dom, Big Dom, I guess, was talking to Mike Garofalo.
17:09He was about the A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts breakup, and what was the catalyst of all this,
17:17and was it just some kind of major, major rift between the two?
17:22Let me add this part.
17:23So A.J. Brown closed the chapter on his time in Philadelphia because he was there at the facility last
17:29week.
17:29I believe it was Thursday he was there to pick up some stuff at the facility and say his goodbyes.
17:34On the walls there, they have pictures of pro ball players, and A.J. signed his.
17:39They have the players sign it.
17:40So he signed it, and from what I was told, he then added, the best to ever play here, always
17:46open.
17:47Now, that signature is going to stay up on the wall.
17:51They may have to edit out the message as well.
17:54And no hard feelings or anything like that.
17:56It's just he had his affinity for the time that he played in Philadelphia, and they still love him.
18:01There's still a lot of love for him inside that building.
18:04Okay, so that was part one of it.
18:07Part two is where he...
18:09Just summarize it.
18:10Yeah, just summarize it.
18:11Basically, Big Dom said,
18:13Bupkis.
18:15Garbage.
18:15That there was a rift between Hertz and A.J. Brown.
18:20That was not the reason for the divorce.
18:21Yeah.
18:22You've got to protect the family.
18:23He's not going to snitch.
18:25Listen, I believe everything Big Dom says.
18:27Italians have no history of doing anything untoward.
18:30Why didn't you take the picture with Big Dom then?
18:32I don't know.
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