00:00Fourth down, handoff, Henry. Guess what? Into the stack. They're not going to get it. They're not going to get
00:05it.
00:06Ezra Raku and Caleb Downs stopped Henry for no gain.
00:13K&C Masterpiece back here on 105.3 The Fan right now.
00:18It's time for some Dallas Cowboys news and questions of the day.
00:23Hey, let's start with Caleb Downs and P.J. Locke still going through concussion protocol.
00:30Joey Porter Jr., he was listed as full yesterday, so that's good.
00:34I know people might be like, hey, he was ready to go in the game last time, and then he
00:39wasn't available when they really needed him.
00:41I was full yesterday, too, after eating that Hutchins barbecue, dude.
00:45Good God, that was good.
00:46And it's always a good sign when you can reheat it and it still tastes really, really good.
00:52Those ribs were really good.
00:55No Ferguson yesterday with an ankle.
00:57Pickens limited with the hamstring.
01:00And then Shadi told us yesterday, in case you missed it, that they still have not opened the practice window
01:06for Jalen Thompson.
01:08Okay.
01:09All right, let's talk about Ja'Shawn Corbin.
01:11That's concerning.
01:11It is. I agree.
01:13Because you look at last week's game, I think we were all kind of hoping, thinking maybe he would be
01:20back for the Cardinals.
01:22But they haven't even opened the window yet, so obviously he's not going to play this weekend, and you would
01:27immediately doubt his availability for the next game.
01:30I'm not saying that, and because I think that a lot of the injuries across the secondary have had a
01:36lot to do with a lot of the problems there.
01:39But then you go back to game one, and they looked lost.
01:42Right.
01:42So you start thinking, and also they weren't prepared for the game that New York decided to play against them.
01:50But I think with a healthy Porter, which I don't know if we're going to get that for the rest
01:56of the season, a healthy Durant and a healthy whoever, maybe it's bland.
02:00And then you have your safeties back there that you expected to be back there in downs.
02:05I think this secondary will be better, but I think Jalen Thompson's a key to that.
02:10And that's because that's what they went out and got a dude that they needed to fill a specific role
02:15in this defense.
02:16I think the frustrating part is, this is kind of how I felt last year when Tyler Guyton got hurt.
02:23It wasn't necessarily that he wasn't out there, but it was that you weren't getting the progression and the reps
02:29together to get better as a cohesive offensive line.
02:33That's kind of the same way I feel about the defense.
02:35Not saying that all of a sudden they would be unbelievable, but you would like to see them try to
02:40grow and mature as a group instead of, hey, now this guy's back.
02:45Ooh, this guy too, but now this other person.
02:46Yeah, exactly.
02:47It is frustrating indeed.
02:49Jay Sean Corbin was added to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, a running back.
02:55Corbin spent some time at training camp with the Cowboys.
02:58He also had three carries for 14 yards in their last preseason game against the Saints.
03:03This makes sense with the departure of DeMarcado.
03:06This is just kind of the way the Cowboys have done it, gone light on running back this year and
03:10then sort of cycled some folks in through the practice squad.
03:13Okay, let's keep doing that then.
03:15I mean, that feels like the plan.
03:17Now, question.
03:19Will Brian Schottenheimer be the Cowboys head coach next season?
03:29I don't think that they're going to move on from him.
03:34Okay.
03:36However, if it doesn't get better, there's no real other choice.
03:41But I think that they really want him to be successful because, again, they want to be proven right.
03:50They knew that it was going to take time with this defensive coordinator.
03:54Jerry said it many times before the season started.
03:57He reminded us of his first season whenever he had that much turnover and they were still 1-15.
04:03So he brought those things up many times on purpose.
04:07I'm going to say yes.
04:09But that's not because he has a massive amount of success.
04:13It's because they look back at the problems they had and they think he can still fix it.
04:18Alec, do you think Brian Schottenheimer comes back?
04:22Or you can answer this question.
04:24What do you think the odds say about him returning?
04:27Ooh.
04:28I think both are interesting questions.
04:30I think the odds would probably say that he is coming back because I think people are smart enough to
04:37realize that Jerry doesn't like the whole turnover thing that Corey just described.
04:41I, as it stands today, I really don't think he will be.
04:47And that is currently, I was surprised to see this, what the betting odds say.
04:52Though it is very close.
04:54Right now, will he be the head coach next season?
04:57No.
04:58Minus 140.
04:59That means essentially a 58.3% shot of them having a new coach next year.
05:0641.7% that he's back.
05:08So it's not.
05:09It's actually lower than I thought it would be.
05:11And it's not a huge gap.
05:13But, I mean, you talked about the turnover.
05:15No, I mean, actually the odds for him being gone are lower than I thought they would be.
05:20So I think part of that is probably, like y'all were saying, the turnover is because you've got to
05:24think new head coach, new defensive coordinator, and Stephen and Jerry have both talked about how they were probably too
05:31optimistic about how long it would take to really get things up and running.
05:35And this would now be then five new defensive coordinators in the last five years, which, that feels staggering to
05:42me.
05:42They don't want to do it.
05:43Yeah.
05:43Like, they just don't want to do it.
05:45But, man, you've got to really ask yourself how much you can observe this and go, what's wrong?
05:52And you've got to start talking to other people about what's missing.
05:55Now, I have an odd question for you, but I cannot wait to see your answer.
05:59You still blame the defense more than the offense for the current Cowboys record, right?
06:06Well, I'd have to go back and look at, I think, three of the losses are definitely on defense.
06:12Okay.
06:12None of the wins are on defense.
06:15Ooh, okay.
06:16Because even the game against Philadelphia, you could have lost that one.
06:21Sure.
06:22Your offense was in control.
06:23Your offensive line was in control of their defensive front.
06:26I think we'd all agree on that Texans game as well.
06:28So, I'll say yes to the answer of this.
06:31The defense isn't good enough, even though the last couple have definitely been, the last couple of losses have been
06:39failures on the offense to get that opportunity.
06:42Now, they could have won the Ravens game.
06:45Yeah.
06:45Offense could have, but they didn't make the play at the end of the game.
06:48They could have, in overtime, won the game against the Cardinals.
06:52I think you can make a strong argument for the Bucs and Packers game as well.
06:55Tampa for sure, yeah.
06:57But, Alec, you still blame the defense more than the offense, right?
07:04And one of the reasons I bring this question up like this is, it's all measured on expectation too, right?
07:10Because we all thought, hey, offense, greatest offense there is, top five, whatever, and defense, we'd be stoked if they...
07:17We thought they'd be fine.
07:17Yeah.
07:18And we'd be pumped if they got to mediocre.
07:20And so, I think expectations are built into this too.
07:24I think I'm more middle-middle than I've ever been in terms of blame.
07:28I know it's not fun to ride the fence when we're talking about these things, but at first, it absolutely
07:34was the defense.
07:34Now, it feels like whenever you're getting three and outs, you're getting puns, you're getting field goals.
07:40That's all the points you're allowing, even against the worst teams that you've played so far.
07:45You're not getting any points from the greatest offense there is.
07:49It's been very mediocre.
07:50And then for the 817, we've talked about this quite a bit over the years.
07:53Come on, fellas.
07:54It's not the coordinators.
07:55It's the players.
07:56I'm not disputing that to a certain extent.
08:00I do kind of think it's the coordinators.
08:02But for the players' front, it's just way easier to replace a coordinator than be like, hey, we fundamentally have
08:09a third of our roster is massively flawed.
08:11Let's turn it all over.
08:12And you're right.
08:12And the Cowboys' front office taking the easy way out is something that's screwed them over time and time again.
08:18100%.
08:19I don't think, Kevin, that we're discounting what either one of them contribute to this thing.
08:27Sure.
08:28By saying, hey, this guy's going to probably go.
08:32You've done this with a new person over and over.
08:34And what happens with each new defensive coordinator?
08:37Well, I need my personnel.
08:38Well, here's the personnel you get.
08:40And then they will go, well, that's not good enough.
08:42I'm not going to be successful enough with some of these guys.
08:45Or I have to work way harder to try and train some of these guys to be good enough.
08:49Thing is, though, Cowboys did go out.
08:51The front office did go out and purchase players for this new defensive coordinator this year.
08:56They went and got Jalen Thompson.
08:58They don't do that.
08:59They don't spend that much money for that.
09:01They went and got Kobe Durant.
09:02They don't do stuff like that.
09:04They made sure Quinnen was here.
09:06They kept Kenny Clark around.
09:08They added pieces in the draft to make sure that some of these spots were filled.
09:13And still, you're looking like this.
09:15So, that's where you look at it and go, the whole thing's broken somewhere.
09:18And coordinator ends up taking the brunt of it.
09:23What have you thought about Amir Speed the last few weeks?
09:28Because we talked about getting more playing time.
09:30He has absolutely.
09:33He looked better before I brought him up.
09:35And I don't know if I just put too much pressure on him.
09:37Like, he looked so much better than before I brought him up.
09:40Or do you think it was just you look good in small samples?
09:43Well, I think that it was a couple other things, too.
09:46They knew that they could take advantage of Bland, so they just kept attacking his side.
09:50And so, they were like, we don't know much about this kid.
09:52And you're right.
09:53You're talking about small samples.
09:54I did say, look, he's only had two targets.
09:57Yeah.
09:57And he gave up one reception on that.
09:59But, for the most part, nobody was even going his direction because he was glued to him.
10:04And now, I'm not seeing the same player that I saw before.
10:08And I don't know.
10:09I need to go back and watch him specifically.
10:11I don't know if they're scheming receivers open on him or if he's just getting beat.
10:15But, he isn't the dude.
10:17I think I put way too much pressure on him when I brought him up.
10:20He was like that Corey guy.
10:21I wish he had never said anything.
10:22No, yeah.
10:23And I could have flown under the radar.
10:25But, yeah.
10:26I mean, the cornerback situation, if it's not Joey Porter Jr., I don't trust any of them.
10:31Yeah.
10:32I trust Durant to come make some plays.
10:35But, even still, all of them right now are a struggle for me.
