- 4 minutes ago
Isaiah Stanback joined Fan After Dark following the Cowboys' recent loss and their offensive struggles. They discussed the offensive struggles, team effort, coaching adjustments, and more.
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00:00Let's jump out to the D&M Leasing Hotline.
00:01You've seen him on DallasCowboys.com.
00:03You've seen him on NFL Network.
00:05He is all over the place.
00:07You've seen him calling high school football games as well.
00:09The one, the only, Mr. Isaiah Stanback.
00:12And Isaiah, let's jump right into it.
00:14And nobody better to ask this to, what have you seen?
00:19What is going on with this offense that was damn near unstoppable
00:23through the first four weeks of the season?
00:24The last two weeks just can't get out of their own way.
00:27Yeah, I think there's a number of things that are taking place.
00:30I think a lot of people needed to pump their brakes in regards to this offense
00:33coming into this year because people fail to realize that these defensive
00:36coordinators are really, really good in this league.
00:39And there's a whole year of film out there against Schottenheimer's offense now.
00:43So teams are going to kind of wait and see exactly what they were becoming,
00:47what Dallas Cowboys' offense was going to be.
00:49And now they have a good idea.
00:50When you turn on the Packers game, you're able to see that Coach Gannon
00:54had a clear understanding of what the protections
00:58and what the responsibilities of the protections of the Dallas Cowboys'
01:00offensive line were, and they were able to exploit that at will.
01:04You could tell that Dak has been nervous the last two weeks.
01:08I'm not sure if it was Gannon at exposure or if it was Todd Bowles.
01:11But Todd Bowles obviously put an entire offense on notice
01:14and had Dak backpedaling, throwing off his heels, being inaccurate.
01:18Pressure rate was extremely high, and that carried into the Packers game.
01:22And then you saw Shottie's response to that was to go max protection.
01:27There's too many plays where there was only two receivers out in routes,
01:32and you have seven guys dropping into coverage.
01:34So you can imagine how slim the opportunities were there.
01:36And then my biggest tip with everything over this season so far
01:42has been the lack of commitment to the run game.
01:44It makes no sense to me how you can have a Javante Williams,
01:47who you give an extension to because of the success that he had last year,
01:50with the same offensive line coach and the same offensive coordinator
01:53underneath your umbrella, and you fail to give him an opportunity to get going.
01:5950 yards last week, 48 yards this week.
02:02To me, that's just insanity, doing the same thing over and over again.
02:06And just failing to make the change.
02:08What's up, Isaiah? I'm glad that we got you on here.
02:10I want to talk about the effort.
02:12We can get back and forth into schematics of stuff.
02:15I put out a tweet.
02:16Other people put out tweets when it came to George Pickens
02:20and maybe the lackadaisical jogging off the route.
02:22We saw the offensive linemen.
02:24There was a shot on the camera caught of them kind of giggling on the sideline.
02:28What do you make of that?
02:30Do you think, hey, it's just a bad moment?
02:31We're nitpicking.
02:32Do you think it's a real issue?
02:33And kind of how do you address that?
02:36Yeah, I mean, there's always going to be those moments
02:38where you get caught on the sideline maybe laughing
02:41when it's not necessarily a laughable moment.
02:43So I did catch that live as well.
02:46And I was like, hey, that's not something that I would be doing in that instance.
02:50But at the end of the day, I mean,
02:53these guys got to go out there and take care of business, man.
02:55In terms of George Pickens and him being lackadaisical coming off the ball,
03:01I mean, them guys had 54 passes.
03:03You know what I'm saying?
03:04They had 54 passes in Georgia and City.
03:07We're out there for a majority of them.
03:08That's just too much.
03:09And I'm not making an excuse for them whatsoever.
03:11The effort level still needs to be there.
03:13But the reality is you're not going 100% every single rep.
03:19And when you're going and being asked to run 50-plus routes in a game,
03:23regardless of what your paycheck says that you should be doing,
03:26you're a human being.
03:27So they have to get some more help.
03:29They have to relieve some of these guys so that they can be fresh.
03:34There's no difference in their defense being on the field all day long.
03:36And we saw the result of some of that when Quentin Williams,
03:40I think a week or two ago, and you saw Kenny Clark,
03:43those guys looked like they were sloughing as well and kind of loafing.
03:47When in reality, these guys are just dog tired.
03:50The defense has been out there too often,
03:51and the receivers are being asked to run too many routes.
03:54Sticking on the offense,
03:55there's been a lot of talk about the involvement of both receivers at the same time.
03:59We saw it last year.
04:00They coexisted.
04:01Even though CD missed a couple games,
04:03these guys were both all-pro players, if you will, last year.
04:05This year, it feels like it's one or the other.
04:08I know the box score may say something, but as you know,
04:10a lot of that was kind of late when they were down 20 and they were just feeding George.
04:14As far as the actual game script and game plan,
04:17it doesn't feel like the same involvement from those two guys.
04:21Is that on Dak?
04:22Is that on Shoddy?
04:23Is that just on game planning?
04:25What do you make of that?
04:27Yeah, I think it's a combination of everything.
04:29But again, I always point to the fact that the lack of commitment to the run game.
04:34And a lot of people like to try to separate the run game and the pass game.
04:38They're one and the same,
04:39especially when you're dealing with Dak Prescott in this offense.
04:41Dak Prescott, to me, is one of the more efficient
04:44and prolific play-action quarterbacks in this league.
04:48He's been that way for a while.
04:49So to take that element out of his game,
04:51you're asking him to drop back and throw it 40-plus times, 50-plus times a game.
04:56It's not going to be peaches and cream.
04:59So in terms of the involvement of those guys,
05:01the variety of routes that they're being allowed to do,
05:04in reference to the Packers game,
05:06these are two-man concepts a lot of the times.
05:08So you're seeing a lot of the same formations.
05:12You're seeing a lot of the same route concepts.
05:13And defenses are picking up on that.
05:15They start looking at your keys.
05:16They start looking at your personnel groupings and your alignments.
05:19And things like that have to be maneuvered.
05:22But you have to also get more guys involved in routes
05:24instead of just CeeDee and George.
05:28Isaiah, you've been around some great head coaches.
05:30You played for Bill Belichick.
05:32And one thing that is kind of, I mean, look,
05:34you're no stranger to the DFW media.
05:36I mean, Shottie's caught his fair share of flack this week.
05:39Do we feel like when he said two weeks ago after the Baltimore game,
05:43I guess it was three weeks ago now, that he has to realize
05:47that he's both the offensive coordinator and the head coach.
05:49And he was being the offensive coordinator in that moment at the throwaway.
05:53Has he overcorrected to the point where he's trying to maybe spread himself
05:58a little bit too thin in the offense,
06:00which has taken a discerning step back since he's made that comment?
06:05I'm not sure that he's taken a step back.
06:07I just think that he needs to do some self-scouting.
06:10Anytime you have a head coach who's also played a role as an offensive coordinator,
06:15he's going to take pride in his offense.
06:17I don't give a doggone the fact that he's supposed to be dividing his time,
06:21you know, not equally, but, you know,
06:23somewhat split over there with the defense.
06:25His responsibility is the offense.
06:26That's why he became a head coach is because of his success
06:28as an offensive coordinator or a play caller.
06:30So the thing is, shoddy, shoddy is, he has to get back to just the confidence.
06:38You're pressing it.
06:39Players press.
06:40People press in whatever line of duty,
06:42a lot of line of work that they're being asked to do.
06:44And that's what he's doing right now.
06:45And you can tell he's resting on his morals.
06:47And we're kind of seeing a little bit of Kellen Moore-ish
06:50in terms of when Kellen Moore was around.
06:52And he used to just pass the ball left or right all day long
06:55and people were complaining about the lack of commitment to a run.
06:57We're talking about after the Javante Williams touchdowns against the Packers,
07:01the next 38 plays, 37 of those were passes.
07:04I mean, there's no justification for that when you're always within two scores.
07:11So shoddy is pressing right now.
07:13And you can tell that because he's looking at his pass sheet.
07:16He's not looking at the time management and the strategic side of things saying,
07:20hey, I'm still in this ball game.
07:21I don't have to push the ball down the field.
07:24So can guys be kind of – my question when it comes to shoddy,
07:27and I – look, we all agree, super good dude.
07:31You know, we asked Bobby Belt a couple years ago, like,
07:34what is his role as the OC, especially when he wasn't calling plays for Mike McCarthy.
07:38And he said, well, he's kind of the liaison between the players and the coaches.
07:41And it made a lot of sense, right?
07:43And so I just wonder, you know, is he too much of a player's coach?
07:48I mean, we know Andy Reid's a player's coach,
07:50but at the same time, he's got pelts on the wall.
07:52Shoddy's not there yet.
07:54And I just wonder is, has he been able to fully evolve from being that liaison
07:59to being the head coach?
08:02I don't know.
08:03I don't know.
08:04I think it's still too soon to make that judgment.
08:08I think that you have to allow for a head coach to have some failures
08:12and to go through these tough spells and see exactly how he responds to it.
08:16The one thing that I want to see from Shoddy is accountability.
08:19Because if you don't have accountability at the top,
08:21then you're definitely not going to have accountability with your team.
08:23If you're pointing fingers, you know, whether directly or indirectly,
08:27at the other side of the ball, then what do you think that your players are going to do?
08:31So I think that Shoddy has to use this as a growth opportunity.
08:34The great news is the rest of the NFC East sucks.
08:36So as much as everybody's frustrated right now, you're still in it, right?
08:40You still have a, you know, you're still in the first third of your season.
08:43You still have a great shot at turning this thing around.
08:45Your next six opponents aren't necessarily the greatest at this point in time of the year.
08:49So you have a chance to turn this thing around.
08:51My thing is I hope that somebody has enough gall to press Shoddy on the things that he's struggling in.
08:58All too often, you know, in the NFL, coaches are so concerned about remaining in their position
09:06and keeping their job that they won't challenge those that are in authority.
09:09And I'm not sure that he is being challenged to run the ball.
09:13I'm not sure that he's being challenged on decision-making.
09:16I'm not sure that anybody is really calling him out or just saying, hey, coach, maybe we should think about
09:21this.
09:22Either they're not doing that or they are doing that and he's disregarding it.
09:25But either way, something in that regard has to change.
09:27Isaiah Stanback joining us from DallasCowboys.com.
09:30Last one for me here.
09:32First four weeks, offense looks great.
09:34A big reason because of that was the offensive line.
09:37We saw Tyler Smith being out and they didn't miss a beat.
09:41It looked great.
09:41We see Tyler Smith come back.
09:43You're getting an all-pro left guard.
09:45This offense, especially the offensive line, should be unbeatable.
09:49Less about the offense as a whole, but just what are you seeing from the O-line play?
09:52And I guess the tight ends are an extension of that with Spanford and Ferguson.
09:56Yeah, well, first of all, their run blocking has been good to me.
10:01It hasn't been exceptional, but it's been good.
10:03And we're not sitting here talking about Javante Williams has not been successful running the ball
10:08or anybody else in the backfield.
10:09There has been a little bit of leakage, but that goes with continuity.
10:13Tyler Smith only has one game under his belt now back in the fold, so he has to get going.
10:17But I do believe that they have been good enough to be effective and to be impactful on this team.
10:22Pass blocking is a whole other deal.
10:24I think that Terrence Steele is struggling.
10:26I love Terrence Steele.
10:27I love him as a person.
10:30I love him as a player, but I think that his knees are starting to give out on him a
10:34little bit.
10:34So he has not been as effective.
10:36His footwork is not great as of this point in time.
10:39I think the rest of the guys, Tyler Booker, has had an up-and-down season so far,
10:44but he's still young.
10:45He's coming along.
10:46The left side of the line is strong.
10:48Tyler Smith is Tyler Smith.
10:49We know what he's going to be.
10:51And Tyler Guyton has completely surprised me.
10:53So the offensive line is strong, and an extension of the offensive line, the tight ends, as you're referring to,
11:00the reality is your highest-paid tight end is a red zone threat.
11:04That's what he is.
11:05You don't ask him to do anything more than what he's capable of doing right now.
11:08He's in a slump, just like any baseball player would be in a slump.
11:11He's not trusting his hands.
11:12He's pressing.
11:13And just like I was saying, Coach Schott, he's pressing, throwing so many passes.
11:16You got Ferguson that's pressing, and he's not trusting his hands no more.
11:19So every ball that comes at him, he's having to think about it and question it.
11:22So you're starting to get inexcusable drops that he typically wouldn't have.
11:27Brevin Spanford is your best holistic tight end on this roster.
11:31One of the best decisions that this organization made was giving him an extension before everybody found out that his
11:36dude can ball.
11:37So let Brevin Spanford be your tight end one.
11:40I don't give a doggone how much anybody's getting paid.
11:42He's your best full tight end.
11:44So let him be your tight end one, and use Ferg in the red zone for what he does best.
11:4830 seconds or less.
11:50Isaiah, stand back.
11:51They put you in front of the team.
11:52What are you telling this girl?
11:53What are you telling to rally this team at this point?
11:57Check yourself.
11:58Okay.
11:58So check yourself.
11:59There's nothing that you're going to tell another grown man to motivate them.
12:02Yeah.
12:02Right?
12:03But these guys can all look at each other in the mirror.
12:05These guys can all turn on the film and say, hey, I need you guys to be accountable to yourself,
12:09and I need you to be accountable to your position group and your team.
12:11Any time that you miss an assignment, any time that you don't execute what you're supposed
12:15to do, you're literally putting everybody else against the wall.
12:18So take care of yourself, and Holistic will come together, as well as the coaches.
12:22We're not pointing the finger.
12:23The coaches got to take care of their business, too.
12:24Let's go out here and win some ball games.
12:26Isaiah, I'm ready to go.
12:27I'm ready to go!
12:28Let's do this.
12:28Let's do this.
12:29Isaiah, stand back, everybody.
12:30Isaiah, real quick.
12:31Are you on the socials?
12:32I mean, I know you're over there.
12:33By the way, not missing the gym.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Not missing the gym.
12:37Did you see Hercules the other day?
12:39Were you Blade?
12:40Was that who you were supposed to be?
12:41Was that prime Wesley Snipes I just saw?
12:43I told myself, that was that a do.
12:45That a do.
12:46I grabbed anything out of the closet, and that a do for the Halloween party.
12:49You know what my favorite about Isaiah is, and you've got to be beefy to do this job.
12:52Isaiah, if you guys don't know, does the post-game kind of talk show right outside the locker room,
13:00which is where the players are walking.
13:02So I'm sure Isaiah has said something, and the players are walking out of the locker room like,
13:06dang, he's talking about me.
13:07You better be a beefy dude, which Isaiah is.
13:09Which he can get away with that.
13:10Isaiah can get away with that.
13:11Me and Blake, well, we're fighting with disaster, but Isaiah can absolutely say that.
13:15Isaiah, great stuff from you as always, my friend.
13:16We'll do this again real soon.
13:18Appreciate it, fellas.
13:19Y'all be good.
13:19There you have it.
13:20The one, the only, Isaiah.
13:21Stand back.