Player's Lounge: 8-29-24 | Dallas Cowboys 2024

the following is a production of dallascowboys.com and the dallascowboys football club how about them [Applause] [Music] cowbo this is the Players Lounge broadcasting live from Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters at the star now your hosts Barry Church hecma Harrison and new e scrubs all right everybody here we go it is the Players Lounge no players today it's just me scrs and Heckman Harris it's just it's just us it's just him it's just us today so we will we will power through be Church uh off today former Cowboy safety lots of topics to get to as the Cowboys are now back here full-time in north Texas had another open practice yesterday at Ford Center for fans to come in and check out for free as they get ready for all efforts toward the Cleveland Browns to start the 2024 NFL season so hecma um they've added some more two more names to the practice squad today but the other name that was added yesterday of big importance was dvin cook we'll get into dvin cook but I want to start with to me the most important which is the quarterback Jerry Jones uh met with the media yesterday Jerry has the smoothest press conferences that I've ever covered from this standpoint nobody knows no how to put the sponsor a sponsor in front of a a massive massive group of media before the Press conf so if he just says hey look you know we're GNA have a lottery a Texas Lottery press conference that's the Cowboys scratch off you and you know just like Hey we're gonna have it at 10 o'clock on on a Wednesday nobody shows right but to have a presser in which Jerry's gonna talk we're all showing up for that oh yeah but beforehand here come the cheerleaders and here comes the little scratch offs thing and the guy comes over and we talk to him you know I learned more about the the scratch off and a whole bunch of stuff to I was like you know this is smart I remember the time he had Papa John coming when they started their sponsorship of Papa John's Pizza first off as a trainer Camp he brought a whole bunch of pizzas so you happy about that happy about that all right so so here you know so Papa John talks Jerry goes through that and then then after Jerry talks and here comes uh the head coach everything I was like you know what that's a smart way to do it yeah if you want to get coverage for the sponsor in the media to talk about it and get out there so I was like you know this Jerry Jerry still on top of his game but then he went into the questions and it became about Dak Prescott and one of the questions I asked him is what's Plan B what's the strategy here you do not have another quarterback under contract next year because Jerry basically came out and told everyone and Clarence Hill wrote about it he's not signing Dak before the season so the deal for CD lamb that was for CD lamb There's No Deal coming for Dak Prescott Heckman how do you feel about that and no plan B well look I think this is this is Jerry being the the the S the ring leader basically in in this circus and calling you all in and making you hang on every word that he says and the media is going to do that because it's Jerry and he knows how to play you guys he he really does us guys I'm sorry I'm a part of that as well but you know hey when it when it comes to the road map and you ask the biggest question well what do you do if you don't sign Dak and no one has even gotten to that part of it what does Plan B look like and to America's team Plan B does not look good at all Plan B does not get Butts into the seats Plan B does not get more memorabilia per purchase so you know whatever Plan B is if it's not Dak it's going to have to be something else because right now you don't have I don't believe you have a quarterback on your roster that you're confident with going forward in the future you're not saying hey we're just going to develop this guy some more and he's going to be the one to take us to the promised land the the future without Dak doesn't look like 12 win Seasons the the future without Dak looks much more abysmal and people can talk about what they think about this season all they want to the previous Seasons when they went 12 and five people were not predicting them to go 12 and five uh and they had talented rosters and so here you go here here is and if you're just asking me to dissect and in and and interpret what Jerry is saying I just you I don't have a I don't have enough I don't know have enough skins on the wall one to be able to do that but number two when I think when it when it comes down to what's going on on with Dak I'm not saying that this is a ploy and him negotiating through the media but I am if I was a betting man I'd be betting that there's a deal already on the table for Dak and Dak has yet to sign that deal you're like all of us were yesterday we don't know what's going on right you're just asking the question trying to figure it out about why this doesn't make sense so Jerry tells me you know what they could all be under contract it wouldn't matter they may not be here so he went to this whole rigma rooll of okay it doesn't matter if they're under contract cuz they you know basically I could fire them I can get rid it doesn't matter just because they're under cont contracts mean nothing yeah right I'm like Cherry they mean nothing they do need something we haven't got to that point yet have we why Tre Lance exactly mak5 million you know what makes sense it doesn't right come on now you know fool so so he gave us that whole riam roll and then Jeff Cole with Fox 4 as Jerry very legitimate question what else does Zack Prescott have to prove to you that he's worthy of contract yeah and Jerry said nothing and then he goes into the whole economics of this and so Jerry just runs around this whole thing there and we like okay Jerry make it make sense yeah any day now the math is go math right make it make sense and when you say you think that there's a contract there for Dak to sign I don't here's why I would be skeptical on just me okay considering you already hurt your leg before you know would you want to risk that and you say you want to be here and if there's a deal here that you're that's ready to go that you like why would you not take it is it okay so let's just be clear on this that right now at the headquarters in Frisco this is a pressure cooker situation going into this season everybody is is basically performing for their job in the future if everybody besides CD lamb right and so with that being said there are a lot of people here that need for this team to be successful one of them one of them right now Dak Prescott I feel like he's not a part of that pressure cooker situation because let me tell you something dak's gonna get paid $60 million regard regardless regardless regardless he yes regardless he should be playing free I'm getting paid you I mean think about it I mean if we could just really add up who the pressure is on this season to succeed and fail and and what this the representation of what this team is going to look like when we get to January Dak is gonna get paid regardless if he's hurt or not some team is going to play pay more than market value uh for him I would I mean I would beg to to say that Mike McCarthy right now is the one who's sweating the most as we're talking about Dak Dak is gonna land on his feet I'll tell you this and this is my opinion just my opinion I think McCarthy's fine too if Mike McCarthy is on the street after this year I truly believe that he'll get a head coaching job of course of course Mike McCarthy's not gonna go somewhere and be an assistant that's never gonna happen to Mike you come on I and I and I would say from this standpoint if we're asking ourselves right now have they done everything to help Mike McCarthy or they made a little bit harder on Mike McCarthy I'd say it's been made a little bit it's been made a little bit harder on McCarthy here and if Mike McCarthy can figure out how to just a winning season okay just winning a winning season you go n and eight here considering what Allin was said and what Allin showed us okay this guy has another winning season you your first year Colin plays again Dak Prescott who led the league and picks the year before as you said we got to get rid of his offensive coordinator you take over he leads the league in touchdown passes CD lamb is what one vote away from being All Pro this man has shown in my mind he can coach and you start going down the wins list we talked about here he's top 20 all time this man is this man is a really good coach in this league in a league but ain't a lot of good coach right I mean you we talking about man in La Brandon Staley was out there charges so we're seeing guys get jobs that can't perform so to me Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy should just do what they do and if they're not wanted here I do believe they'll be wanted somewhere El my question is on that it comes down to who did we lose when we start talking about this team and when we start talking about Talent on this team you know who did we lose of of of substance that that we're saying our team is much worse because we lost this person we had nine you had nine all Pros on last year's Team all right if you take away the specialty guys you lost Tyron Smith an aging veteran still top of his game at left tackle that still leaves you with six all Pros on this team that you have under contract this year there aren't a lot of teams with six all Pros on them and I'm taking away the other the other specialty guys that you have that are definitely viable for you I'll I'll hit you back with this you now have two rookies that are going to start for you on the offensive line at I would say the two most critical positions on the offensive line left tackle and Center so that's a worry um you're running back room is question mark filled that's one reason why you got dvin cook in here I had to fill out a sheet the other day that said okay how many yards will Ezekiel Elliott gain and they're assuming it was number what was your number what was your number c can I guess can I guess go ahead go ahead go ahead go ahead take new new scrubs went between 650 and and 800 no lower than that yes really yes wow I am wow really what four 400 to 400 to 600 it was in the 400 range wow under 500 okay and I say that to you from the standpoint right now we don't know exactly what it is they're going to do you've brought in dvin cook yeah uh Rico dles I've listening to Brian on the break if you don't listen to the break here make sure you go over to dallascowboys.com and check out all the great pod but the break is is is uh one I was just checking out on my way over here today he thinks at some point in time they're going to look at Rico D and say you know what hey young man we want to see more from you uh can't forget about my guy El Boogie uh Li this is a smus this is a smorgus board of running backs here this I don't look at 2016 Zeke or 2017 or 2018 Zeke he's not that player anymore I don't know exactly what they're going to do because what do I always say here man listen to what they don't say right no nobody's come out here and said Ezekiel is our Workhorse guy Ezekiel is number one guy seen even what they talked about last year with Tony Pard you're not hearing anybody tell you that about this running back room so until I I'm not convinced so that's why I'm saying this thing's going to be spread out it's going to be where do they want to go with this hot hand uh injuries this whole thing so offensive line running back rooms a question the defensive line that your defensive tackle spots are issues out side of your starters at the defensive end spots you confident about the backups yeah I mean there's questions so when you say hey look you've got six all Pros having all Pros helps one of your all Pros is down Don Bland for at least a month we'll see when he comes back so there's there's there's question marks there that I would say um but I understand you're primis of hey look is this a talented roster yes this is a talented roster how it fits and gels together we'll see This is Where I Come backed into you where I think Mike McCarthy has shown you since he's been here especially after that first year he knows how to work with young players and knows how to make make the jigsaw puzzle work we'll see yeah we'll do we'll do wins later on you know how many wins we think they'll get but I just think there's some unsolved question marks here about where this team goes and you I just heck I believe offensive defensive lines are where you win these football games I I believe it's also where the Cowboys lost their playoff game last year because they weren't strong on either one okay so in this case like I I I I agree with half of your premise when when shoot holes in it baby go no please doing the thing is when I when I think about Mike McCarthy and since he's been hired here the one thing that he hasn't been that he has been willing to do is change it's something needs to be changed and I'm talking about this goes from his defensive coordinator his offensive line coach position that were not working out Mike McCarthy has not stayed the course in in situations he's made those changes he understands exactly what's going on with his front line and I think you point out something that's very important dealing with a with a few rookies not one but two rookies on your offensive line I don't think that that's advantageous but look at the draft order of those two players that we're talking about okay I think that gon comes in here uh with with a hell of a recipe of of a guy that you know that you can take and make into a left tackle now going to your running back position I'm sorry you were in the same position last year with Tony paror coming off of a of a snapped ankle all right so there W the expectation there wasn't that high but Tony paa still finished with what a thousand yards and I'm not saying top the league and I'm and I am not sitting here saying that Zeke is going to be a thousand yard rusher okay but I do believe that when you incorporate a guy like dvin cook that's coming in and if and his whole thing has been can he stay healthy and what version are you going to get of dvin cook but there are definitely packages that I believe that coach McCarthy can use to his Advantage the L we call it the L boogie package all right ey formation with dvin cook what are some of the things that you've seen dvin cook do in the past being in a pistol the way he lines up off the formation things like that that I think can help you as a team because it's going to be a running back by committee approach and Dalvin cook doesn't hurt that so look I I don't think that you're are you are as bad off as we're trying to make this sound going into your first game in Cleveland gon was a right tackle Oklahoma now he's going over to left so there's a change yeah and this is the National Football League the toughest level there is and you're starting off with the defensive player of the year it's going to be an adjustment the first six games are pretty they're he's they're throwing the kitchen sink at him right away of course I have a concern and then how do you help him that's been my concern as well is it Mo maker uh what do you do um to just to just throw him on out there and just say go handle it I I think that I think that would be unfair why do you take a guy in the first round then to to be your left tackle and you know that that's what his position is going to be so I mean are we you're setting him up for failure I'm not saying you're setting up for failure but at the same time I am I'm allowing an adjustment I'm allowing a rookie to be a rookie that there's going to be it's going to be a it's going to take it's going to take some time he didn't do that with Tyler Smith he was a left tackle you moved him to the left guard I mean look I'm not trying to say that the adjustment is easy I know that the speed of the game is completely different I'm not naive to that but just to say that okay this could be this is the weakest part of your team because your first round draft pick you know isn't any good I think you've already talked about things that you could do to cover up some of those warts just starting off in Cleveland but remember Tyler had to go play left tackle okay remember remember that the injuries of K so he had to get I mean they had to throw him out there and and look the guy did a fantastic job uh he he did I just think that it's it's a lot to put out there for a guy to go from right to left and not think that hey man there's gonna be some tough nights out here start your first game off with Miles Garrett I just think that's a challenge I'm not saying that the guy's gonna fall on but like I'm not saying this is going to be another Mazy Smith type situation where your first round pick is g to just let you down because Mai let everyone down he was not what they thought he was going to be I'm not saying that but I'm just saying as you look at this schedule here it's he's facing some Heavy Hitters and along this thing if I'm the coach I got to sit up here he's a rookie player it takes everybody a little minute to get here and then how do we help the player once again I talk about Wards how do you cover up warts if you're the defensive coordinator for Cleveland you're hey let's figure out the left tackle siners new Let's test them yeah let's test them so the tests are going to come salari is a good offensive line coach we've seen his track record the Cowboys as an organization you are correct they've done a very good job of developing people but at the same time I just know it takes people a minute we can talk all all day about how long how how great CD lamb was last year leading the league in receptions uh making all pro remember the first four games yeah it was not pretty absolutely and we're talking about a veteran player who they had to figure it out a little bit that's kind of my thing that I'm saying we we we we look at we just want to hit the presso button and say it's automatically going to happen this league is a challenge yeah and and it's going he's coming out facing one of the biggest challenges and you know you got JJ lot you got Aiden Hutchinson on the list you got TI there's gonna be some tests right here we'll see how he works with it but it's going to be a challenge and and I am going to be on the cautious side maybe that's where I'm at yeah I'm on the cautious side of things to say hey look let's be ready because it's going to be a challenge he may he may exceed everything he could that could happen we have seen it happen with their first round picks the offensive line Tyron Smith excelled yeah you have history time proof and consistency yes trais Travis Travis excelled so if he excels then hey man you fall it but at the same time I'm one of those guys I'm gonna sit up here and just say hey man look let's let's be let's be and at the same time Zach and Tyron were number one at their positions pretty much coming out you know where they were ranked actually tyon was number two but but they were ranked pretty they're ranked high he wasn't one of your top two offensive tackles off the board he was drafted later Travis Frederick um was number two in his class at the center position so there's a little bit of a difference Tyler Smith was not Tyler Smith was a guy people like who's this guy is it Tulsa so we'll see yeah but I'm just one of those I just hey look let's just be cautious is here um it's going to be tough and my gosh miles gar heck of a player from Arlington Texas heck of a player here so we'll see where it goes your your confidence level is higher than mine if if we got if we got if we got a glass so this is this is probably the best way I should put this before we go to break if this is a glass heckman's looking at us saying it's half full you're saying it's half empty I'm saying we got to check that water I don't know you mean where refill the refill coming so if I if I drink this right now I'm going have a quarter left I need the refill to come around here so uh let's get our first break in here um this this show is brought to you by Aristocrat gaming the name of it is a players L he's heck myah Harris and I'm newly scru dvin cook is back here um on the practice squad on the practice squad I think I might be higher on dvin than you let's dive into that next on the players L and uh this is dallascowboys.com radio are you the 2024 Dallas Cowboys fan of the year the Dallas Cowboys and Captain Morgan are celebrating EXT extraordinary inspiring and original fans nominate yourself or the biggest Cowboys fan you know for a chance to be Nam the 2024 fan of the year and win prizes including a trip to Super Bowl 59 visit dallascowboys.com fanof thee go Cowboys hey there Cowboys Nation Kyle Yan's here sharing that same team that brought 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bring up here Jerry Jones was asked yesterday what did Zimmer tell you about dvin cook and then what did it mean coming from him and Jerry basically said you know there's recommendations and then there's recommendations from somebody that knows and then the way he said it right so basically Zimmer put it on Jerry yeah this guy you want this guy I leaned on this guy this is this is a good move for you and so they did it they brought him in we talked about dvin cook last year on on this show here uh it was coming off injury didn't really driive with the Jets ended up with Baltimore and of course you they got put out of the playoffs he potentially is fully healed now be interesting we get get a chance to talk to dvin cook but I just think that mix once again what are they not telling us you know Mike out here prais the Malik DAV Malik is cut so now you've got Ezekiel Elliott not hearing anybody say he's going to be the Bell cow guy he's going to be our I'm not hearing that so you got Rico d uh you got Hunter liy so and now you're going to add dvin cook in the room there's just a lot there's a lot of Gumbo yeah a ain't no one chili it's a lot of Gumbo now got a lot of gumbo in here so that means a lot of guys can potentially get the football here so I'll be interested to see exactly what they do yeah at this point in the season you know that the moves that they're making are telltale signs of where they feel like their weaknesses are I mean we b in a cornerback we bought in another defensive tackle so you can tell me what you think all you want to I'm looking at your moves and this isn't one of those inseason you know games ship type of moves they no they're trying to strengthen this 53 and they're going to continue to turn as they see need and so you bring in a guy you bring in a guy like dvin cook and that says to me that look if we go to game day we've got to have two guys in this back field that we can bet on and right now I don't feel like we have that and so what does dvin cook bring that the rest of those guys don't and look last you as you just uh just narrated that look dvin cook last season he was hurt I mean nobody would touch him besid the Jets who did the Jets have the Jets Jets had a guy by the name of Bree Hall that was coming off of a knee injury but oh by the way he legit right he was fine he he he was heal he was heal and the situation was nothing like dvin cook originally thought when he went into New York because look man this this young guy is for Real in in New York but you know I I look at the way that he ended last season only had five carries in those last two games then he goes on to Baltimore and I think those are forgettable reps right yeah I'm laugh because I'm just thinking about you know D Co probably looking at Jets when man Bree is hurt he's hurt and you know you look out there you see the guy running and then somebody jets look at like not as hurt as we thought not as hurt as we thought and and that's uh Bill Walsh did that to Steve Young yeah cuse Steve Young son was with that 49 said yes you said Joe's you said Joe was hurt like the back you said he was hurt and then Bill W kind of game looked like yeah not yeah oh oh oh well not as hurt as we thought but I mean when you look at when you look at dvin Cook again I just said it man it's it's all about him staying healthy if they if he can stay healthy and we've seen when he was you know running under Kevin stefansky which I think the Kevin stefansky Mike Zimmer we're gonna talk about this next week the par the parallel between those two I think you're going to be interesting going into Cleveland but the best years that you got out of dvin cook Not only was he a runner he's also a guy that can receive out of the backfield so he is multi-dimensional in that way and the biggest question that you ask yourself is is he healthy if you're saying Zeke I'm just going to push it to 500 uh if Zeke's going to get you five hun lipy whatever those numbers are going to be we're gonna like there's your gumbo there's your gumbo this is how we're mixing it up because there are a lot of packages that I believe that Mike McCarthy is going to experiment with over these La over these first quarter of games just to figure out what that running back room is going to look like here's the most important package and and they failed at this last year the Red Zone package of course too many times especially inside the five yard line and it they had problems to me when I look at the move for dvin cook okay here's dvin cook here's Ezekiel Elliott we're trying to figure out who can get this ball into the end zone here and uh I know Li limy had the the fing I was to bring it up had fumble inside the one again so he's got he's got work he's got to do to gain confidence back um you got Rico D they are looking at we're going to try to F with these four players we're going to try to fix how we can punch this thing in inside the Red Zone especially inside the five cuz that was a critical area which I think they lost at least two football games last year by not being able to have that possibly possibly three games imagine that I mean in in those situations which are documented and you saw and just going back to the Miami game um losing Zeke in that situation I think was big because you lose your biggest Red Zone threat and having that back how does this mix because we still haven't yet even through the preseason we haven't seen that CH that back that is okay he could take this 60 yards we haven't even seen any of those types of runs you so now you gotta all right great I'm glad you brought it up guess what you don't have it boom there you go there's no TP Tony PA ain't walking through that door Tony Dorsett ain't walking through that you don't have it old Zeke 2016 Zeke he's not walking through that door that's not going to be your game and I think that's why you and that's why you bet on Tony parlor last year was because you were was saying he's that game breaker he's that game changer and you never saw that even when you tagged him for all that money you never saw him be that guy because he only gave you one 100 yard game last season and you said he was top 10 and I'm saying this I'm saying misused him what so skip Pete former former running back coach skip said when you had a guy like Pard you just don't make him your one guy and try to he's a part of a tandem and the best usage you got out of him was that kind of thunder lightning thing between Zeke and Pard the problem was they probably needed to change around the dynamic in making Tony maybe the starter more and and getting him more playing time before they actually made him the starter but he had said don't just put him back there and just say go be the one guy go be the Workhorse that's not the best use of his talent look I I mean look and to me I think he was correct so so I'm going to just say this I I thought that last year uh Tony Po and Rico out like kind of like one in the same you you didn't get as much of the change of pace that you needed from those two guys as running backs in that back field that's all I that's really all I can point to because really neie fundamentally I believe that a good running back and a good defense can win you a championship that's just what I believe but that's an to me I I found now that a lot of people view that as being a dated dated train of thought when it comes down to football because this is a pass Centric League you need a guy in those moments where you're just talking about two to three games that would have been decided if you could score down in the Red Zone that's big that's the difference between being a one seed or playing in the Wild Card you you feel what I'm saying so I just look that's where that's where I I really feel like look you are hanging on to everything you hear coming off of these Boards of who's being cut because you're still trying to find that guy I don't think they're done I don't think they're done looking for running backs because you can't you can't bet the house D dvin cook can be an 800 yard rusher see I'm not even I'm not looking for 800 from him I'm I'm looking for it just a smorgus board of these guys together I'm not okay that's why I got Zeke under 500 I think this is gonna be a true Committee of guys we'll ride who's hot we'll ride the situation we'll see where guys are going at the end of the season if it's 15 yard it's a success if you have three guy or two guys with 500 yards rushing this is you would call it a successful experiment if you get that right see I'm not looking so much at the numbers to say hey man five five for cook and and and five for Zeke give me the are you converting in the red zone and scoring okay good deal you know are you are you able are you able to complement your quarterback Dak Prescott and your defense that's more I'm I'm more concerned about that than I am necessarily yards because we've seen we've seen people get the you know these Diet Coke calorie yards a lot you know you you you get down you know you can get down in a game the next thing you know you're filling the stat sheet up um you look at the numbers in the Packer game okay that had some numbers but the competitive phase was over so I'm more concerned about you know H how are you winning games than than the numbers because you could you could have Ezekiel Elliott have a 49 yard rushing day but he could have some really critical plays where he's moving the ball on Third and two or he's scoring inside that Red Zone and then that's more of an Effectiveness there so I don't think necessarily looking at numbers are going to tell me what I needed to get out of these guys as much as hey what are the wins looking like how are we able to keep our defense fresh here um how are we able to keep moving the ball and allow that because to if we're if it's me what is Mike Mike's a passing guy always been a passing guy can you run the ball effectively enough that Dak doesn't have to throw the ball 40 to 50 times a game that's what I would not want and I guess and the only reason why I was questioning that because the one thing is I'm I'm assuming that everybody feels like the running game isn't is going to be a compliment to your quarterback it's going to help him in those situations where he doesn't have to sustain drives by throwing the ball if you could turn around and hand it off to a guy like Ezekiel ell if you could score down in the Red Zone I just think that one even going back to those those those five losses these are five games that you had where again if you're able to convert convert you're able to win those games as you pointed out but then going back to the Green Bay playoff game if early that first quarter if you're able to run the ball that changes the dynamic of being down 140 quickly or stop it or stop it but I'm saying if you can run the ball convert pick up a first down and still keep that offense on the sideline sometime the best offense is the best defense and that comes with the running game let's get our second break in here who is the biggest threat to the Cowboys in the East we will dive into that next on the players lunch brought to you by Aristocrat gaming right here on Dallas cowboys.com R to kick off the 2023 NFL season Hugo Boss teamed up with the NFL and Micah Parsons to launch an iconic apparel collection featuring hoodies Cruise t-shirts polos joggers and more the bold unique apparel of the boss NFL collection unites football and fashion while reflecting what it truly means to be a boss get yours today at nflshop.com hugoboss at hugoboss.com and at boss retail stores # Be Your Own Boss I'm Cowboys alumni and I Danny McCrae here with Smoothie King asking what's that sound that's the sound of me sipping one of their powerp pack smoothies with over 10 g of protein with real fruits and organic veggies because they Smoothie King what you see is what you sip so grab a delicious Smoothie King smoothie throw a straw in your jaw and get sipping real Smoothie King the official smoothie of the Dallas Cowboys hey there Cowboys Nation Kyle Yan's here sharing that that same team that brought you Buffalo bringing NFL casino games that show America's team on and off the reels Aristocrat is changing the game with a new experience football fans this means you can pick your team and play your team check out the Cowboys themed casino games developed by Aristocrat a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys gambling problem please contact the US national problem gambling helpline at 1800 Gambler that's 1800 g m b r for 21 and over Raising Canes presents the other rules of football rule one any broadcast without the express addition of cook to order Cane's chicken fingers is prohibited rule 12 no crinkle cut fries Texas toast or cravable cane sauce constitutes an illegal formation and Rule 31 anybody who loves to feed their game face is an eligible receiver of can's when it comes to winning game Day kan's rules raising Kane's Chicken Fingers one love go Cowboys to the Players Lounge for the fourth season in a row two of the country's Premier High School football programs will kick off the season in the 2024 Jerry Jones classic presented by waterburger on Saturday August 31st at 2 pm Central the north Crowley Panther Panthers and the Lancaster Tigers will Clash for the first time in over 20 Seasons Under The Lights of the Ford Center at the star in Frisco tickets are now available on S seatgeek.com starting at $15 how many games have you called at Frisco it's at Ford Center oh man probably a hundred really I'm calling that game okay I'm calling that game it's well then tell tell everybody that's what I'm about to it's going to be on child 21 and the NFL Network so yeah ain't that something first time on NFL Network first time on NFL Network got your suit picked out what you know I got my suit picked out come on now color scheme give little it's going to be blue you know I'm going blue it's Cowboys baby okay all right hey man congratulations that's big time right there man that is that is big time so uh I I've never been to high school game there yeah Kyle yans and myself would be on the call so Emy winning Kyle yman how about that how about that back to back years man my man is on a run so uh well congratulations we had triplets he has emies come on now lot ain't no playing lot God has blessed him those time guy you got favor man K Kyle has favor so uh all right good luck to you guys as you get ready to do that here uh back here on the Players Lounge um who's the biggest threat to the Cowboys in the East the first thought is Philadelphia but as I was trying to pick playoff teams we know every year there's Shuffle there's it shuffles around and and Dan quinnn is in Washington now Trader trade Trader call him a traitor he left us uh not the first not the first we saw no Turner did it once went from being a coordinator here to a coordinate head coach of Washington and Ryan dall's back with the New York Giants I don't have a lot of faith in in in the gmen but is it Philadelphia who we got two different coordinators Vic fangio takes over the defense and Vic fangio was once the guy when he was coach Denver came and uh came over to jry World said here's the blueprint on how to beat the Cowboys and then they have Kell Moore former Cowboy quarterback and coordinator he's now the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles so in your mind heck Mah Harrison who of the three is the biggest threat to the Cowboys to knock them off from being NFC East Champion that's well look let me just say this man it is every time I see a news flash about the dysfunction in Philadelphia I smile because for so many years they just gotten that everybody so Kudos and high on their general manager and the and the signings that they're making and and guys are not very far removed from going to a super bow Super Bowl but yet here are questions between sirani and Jaylen Herz which which to me is absurd between a guy that you paid a substantial amount of money to uh to lead your team you bring in saquin Barkley obviously your defense doesn't look the way that it used to now that uh Fletcher Cox has retired but I think Philadelphia still is Philadelphia I mean there hasn't been a repeat uh NFC East Champion since 2004 and for good reason because bad teams all of a sudden become good and I think Dan Quinn because I I loved him so much as a coach when he was here realized that he is a real true culture Builder and he's going to do exactly that down in Washington DC that I think with that rookie quarterback man they have an opportunity to surprise a lot of people I do know that there is going to be struggle anytime that you have a rookie quarterback but defensively I think with the guys that they've brought in and with the mind of Dan Quinn it's going to be a problem for a lot of teams and I don't want to just discount the New York Giants but right now the Giants don't look like they're putting any effort into getting Daniel Jones any you know Supporting Cast other than the guy neighbors that they got from last year look all we got to do is watch the hard KN and that tell you do they know what they're doing amongst each other I mean that was you know they're watching heart that hard KNX and just I didn't understand the the strategy I go back into the strategy I'm with you in terms of looking at Washington because he has meaning Dan Quinn he's got institutional knowledge of what's here right he knows it I was so right about Kell Moore with the Chargers remember church was fighting me on it fighting me I'm like that ain't it man and I was also right in terms of Mike McCarthy needed to be the guy they needed to move on from Kell Moore so Kell Moore goes out to the Chargers Kellen went to a s let's be fair though Kellen was all he went to a sinking ship all right Kellen got on a sinking ship that thing was already going down what was what were we told about what Justin Herbert was gonna do remember oh oh he goes from D that Justin her he's with a better quarterback okay Justin her about to blow MVP vote that that was what was put out there meanwhile oh you know like hey you know he putting it out there so Dak limited him and Dak had all these picks last year that Dak was the problem like you're working with an inferior player what does Dak do right Dak goes with Mike McCarthy and leads the league in touchdown passes and what do happened to Justin Herbert well Justin Herbert got paid but they didn't make the playoffs head coach is fired Kell Moore's out of a job so we saw how that thing just imploded right so now you're going to go work with Jaylen Herz who is having a couple questionable issues last year people started you know chirping about him despite you know being in the Super Bowl the year before yeah Jaylen Herz is not the same kind of quarterback that Dak Prescott is they're different quarterbacks okay okay they are diff their strengths are different because of his legs okay and I think Dak is I think Dak has a better arm so um good players but different yeah you know so many times people want think yo black quarterbacks are no they're not they're not they're just not so that's why I would just say I think I'm just not sold on K Moore and also knowing that the general manager Howe Roseman likes to be involved yeah well they want a collaborations I don't know how well and that's what I'm saying for for so many times you hear how Howe roseman's name comes come up as the genius that gets these guys signed and you know he made it to Philadelphia Bulldogs with all the Georgia Acquisitions uh that they made out there but I mean look I think no matter what you could possibly the the Cowboys could could repeat as NFC East champions it'll be a 20 year 20 years since it's been done but they're going to have to number one stop the run if that happens sure if the Cowboys do that then I'm looking at a team that obviously offensively if if Dak Prescott and cidd lamb they have a connection uh coming into this season it doesn't take them five games to get started correct yeah hey look you know is stop the run and also be able to run the ball in the Red Zone half full sure sure let get it's not opium it's half full so on the record biggest threat in the NFC east of the Cowboys is for Heckman Harrison I'm going Philadelphia I go Washington okay I am going to go Washington the institutional knowledge of Dan quinnn and his belief of being able to get cuz people up there and players up there they're starving for something different what he brought here and how that defense was changed around here I believe he can do some of those same things for for them as well not saying it's going to necessarily result in them winning the east or making the play but I do think we're going to see some you know they're they're not going to be an they're not going to be an easy game on Sunday what are your thoughts on rookie quarterbacks because most people believe the same thing about rookie quarterbacks do you think you know that Daniels obviously in his first year at Washington can have a substantial amount of success to lead them to a championship or just NFC East Championship honestly I have not seen enough of the young man okay to to to to make a determination here in the preseason but I'm a fan of Cliff kingsberry I think he's I think he's understands offenses very well you just kind of look at his track record there and I just biggest thing is just keep him in games and if you can get this thing to the fourth quarter and we know they have defense especially the D line they've got talent there it's just been a matter of unlocking it and I think that Dan Quinn will be able unlock some things that Ron Rivera was not able to do um in Washington I also think Ron had too much on his plate in Washington as well Dan's gonna be able to coach the team they've got people in front office to run it they had Ron doing a lot of stuff here so I think they can be an improved approved overall organization from that Heckman this was fun man we will uh yeah man we'll get after it on Monday didn't take us long to disagree or Tuesday uh Tuesday Tuesday yeah Labor Day Labor Day Labor Day I'm not going to make you labor on Labor Day yes yes Chris is going to be working on Labor Day for sure all right that's Players Lounge Nega goodbye this has been a production of Dallas cowboys.com and the Dallas Cowboys football club how about them cowbo [Music]