NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Cowboys Camp with Leighton Vander Esch and Michael Gallup

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

A field filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler are live from Oxnard, California for Cowboys Training Camp. The heroes get you caught up on news from around the league including an update on suspensions to Alvin Kamara and Charles Omenihu (10:47), a pair of signings by the Bears (15:17), and the weekend's Hall of Fame festivities (17:04). After the break, the heroes talk to linebacker Leighton Vander Esch (28:40), wide receiver Michael Gallup (45:30) and the voice of the Cowboys Brad Sham (54:10) about training camp and the upcoming Cowboys season.  Note: Time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is practicing with the first team offense. From the training camp of the Dallas Cowboys, it is around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis. I got heroes with me, Greg Rosenthal, and his hairy legs. And Mark Sessler, hey guys. I don't, this whole practice with the first team. offense. I mean, camp and the preseason in general, let's for real as become like less and less

first teamers doing anything and not even showing up in the games. Oh, we're absolutely like year 12, uh, veteran who's slowly ramping up. That starting spot is secured. I am. It's so exciting to be here at Cowboys camp. We, we just, uh, wrapped up, um, a press conference with Zaddy himself, Mike McCarthy. Uh, that just, you know, inch me, goosebumps moment for the old Zusser. And I mentioned Greg's wearing shorts. And you did choose. You had two choices this morning, Greg.

You could have wore the short shorts or the longer shorts. You chose the longer shorts. Yeah. And I thank you because I have to say this to anybody at NFL network, colleagues, friends, many of you, you got to be aware of sitting in the director chair at these remote things with your short shorts. Why do we not know this by now? The fleshy male inner thigh is not something we need. And to be fair, a lot of, you know, you'd probably get less of that with Greg,

but a lot of the people occupying these director's chairs are like ex-NFL linemen and just beefy general in people. So it's an excess of that body part. I mean, you don't have to mention my abundance of body hair, though. I think that's rude. I think that's the way to go. We're at training game. Everyone's in shorts.

This is an NFL network. Me and Cess are like Fonzie over here kicking the jukebox. This is an audio medium. Your guy, though, Zaddy, it was nice to see him Zaddy in up front. Like, he is in his element. He very much. Are you starting to get it? I do.

What I see in Zaddy? Well, I do because. No. I think he enjoys. Greg is just cozying up to you, but absolutely not. I think he enjoys being the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys very much, that he embodies that in a Zaddy way where he's the man here. This is a nice time of year.

too. There's a lot to do. It's all about ball, but it's all about him. He's in charge, too. And there's not a lot of pressure. And he's just like cracking jokes. He's so open with the media. I mean, he does 15, 20 minutes on a podium. Then he does 15, 20 more minutes on the side with them. And it's just like he's totally at ease. So like just from another angle, like he does all that. He does it all very well. And I think that he is in a very comfortable with his own skin. And I think that's where you're getting at a little bit with your definition of all this. He is comfortable in his leadership role. He's taken on more than ever before with this team. And he seems to be delighted by the whole thing. And he was great with the media. And he's joking with individual reporters. So I see all that. I just disagree with the base definition of where we've already talked about this.

Can we talk about the seating arrangement? I mean, let's show some respect, Mark. Me and Rosenthal are sitting with the reporters in the folding chair. I knew this would become a talking point. Mark, off to the side, standoffish. You won't even give McCarthy respect of being. So first of all, like, it was a shaded spot, which was appealing to me. And it's like, I don't like, I was just observing from a different perch.

You guys had the same camera angle. I was like, we want to cover it from all angles, so I'll go sit in a different place. I just wished you were next to us. I knew that would be annoying. Because you might have seen a different side of it. I didn't, I knew that would get on the radar. It's like, I'm not doing this. This is not because of you.

It's because of the shade. It's because of Mike. That's what I'm saying. Right. But, I mean, I got to see them from a side view. Like you saw him up front. like that so you could have why not explain if you're so fascinated with him you could explore from different angles yourself i am fascinated with him in fact you know it would be um

an abuse of my duties as host of the show i had to ask mike mccarthy a question oh yeah and uh let's listen in uh dan hands us around the NFL NFL network uh hard docks is starting up again this week you were on the show a couple of years ago mojo moment was a thing that kind of took off. I was wondering if that comes back in the area, you change it, maybe a different Mike Myers vehicle or anything like that? Well, no, the mojo moment's still there. We're using the pad of practices, so we've done it every day since we've been in pads, and there'll be one today. So what was the greatest mojo moment of Kent so far? As the offense of coach, it was the two-point play. As the head coach is probably, you know, last one was pretty good for.

the defense. I didn't know what any of that meant at the end. I mentioned another Mike Myers vehicle, maybe the we're not worthy moment of the day, the extreme close-up, something like that, something from the Wayne's world. The thing I love, because a lot of these are, you know, people looking for a story angle or looking for basic data

about players' health, and so it's a lot, you know, it can be dry. And you elicited, I think you took him to a new place and there were giggles throughout the crowd, and that's the great question. Got a couple of those, like, Like the turnback. Well, who's that guy?

Yeah, well, that's fine. Which you always expect when you're the stranger dropping in amongst the beat reporters. I've always been uncomfortable whether it's Combine or something like this just because if I was a beat guy, I don't want anybody in my time that's just like dropping by. And I feel that energy sometimes coming out emanating off other beat reporters who sometimes could be a little cranky. Sometimes. Not here, though. Not like the vibes are good here. The vibes are like very chill because they got to a.

gave Dallas for a couple weeks and hang out working like in a perfect Southern California beach community. And isn't it, we were at Rams camp last year. They were defending Super Bowl champions last summer. And, you know, the Rams put together a really good operation there and everything was organized and clean and neat and friendly. But when you're rolling in, you get off the 101 and you head in and you start seeing the signs on the light posts and you pull in here and you see all the people dressed up, all the

fans and the way they have. all the merch and the food and the and then you see the fields it just feels bigger and i think that's part uh you know we're going to talk to brad sham the sham got a little bit later who happened to be at that presser a little stroke of good luck for our show uh the voice of the dallas cowboys and uh he was telling us you know he's been involved forever with the team and dallas everything's bigger from uh the training camp to the super to the hall of fame parties and you feel that when you're here in a way that you're not going to feel it at other camps There's no question.

You also have, like, you have the huge signs coming in, Cowboys Training Camp, so that everyone can take their Instagram pictures and stuff. But they are just literally bigger than they would be at any other training camp. They're, like, 40 feet in the air. You have the tower, old Bear Bryant style. And, you know, like, Jerry Jones was playing in the SEC, but, like, back when Bear Bryant was doing this, where, like, the owner is literally at the top of a tower,

like coaches used to do in the 50s barking out to players and he's literally three or four stories above all the players looking down on his peons with the huge Cowboys logo on that. You don't see that at him. The other thing is

because it's such a Cowboys aura to it. It's kind of preposterous but it's also, I like it. That's part of the Dallas Cowboys Allure. Yeah, there's no way that you fly the Jacksonville Jaguars to Oxnard, California and when you park there's like 4,000 Cowboys fans trying to get in.

On a Monday morning. Yeah, I'm sure some of them traveled here. to make a week out of it, no doubt. But, like, that percentage is way lower than it would have to be with any other team. I don't think so. You got to be in Oxnard in August. That's what everyone says. You're saying, I'm saying that these are California-based Cowboys fans.

Not that many other teams. The Raiders, the Cowboys, a few others, tops. They're mostly from the area. Everybody that works for the Chargers are listening right now, cover your years. Like, they're not in the, they're not getting a medal in most popular L.A. teams. I think it's Raiders, Cowboys, Rams, in some order. and that's amazing because you could make sense.

I think that's the order actually, Raiders Cowboys. Rams, obviously history here. Chargers, excuse me, Raiders, history here. The Cowboys, they've been the Dallas Cowboys as long as they've been a team, and yet they have such a following that goes back to just the all. And I know there are people listening to the show.

They're even annoyed right now. I can picture comments now. I can't believe they're doing kind of like a Cowboys episode of the show. But I think it's good to, check in on this team because in addition to them being this bigger than life entity within the NFL the team does matter Greg and we're going to talk to some players in the team we're going to excited to get out in the practice field and check out what's going on there uh but first let's get caught up from the weekend do some news i'm talking about the quarterback schools the mini camp

the all season the training camp down in often when it was hot and you were tired and the home at everybody you did one hell of a job and the only thing else I got to say is how about Jim Cowell? Dug that out from the archives. That was actually, you think that was after one of the Super Bowl triumphs of the 90s, Jimmy Johnson. That was after the 1992 NFC title game, that famous quote.

And yeah, it's very... That felt like the Super Bowl. It did, yes. With the bills and waiting. Right. I think they beat the 49er. There was some classic games there in that era. It's very important.

We talked about this few weeks ago, Mark, the team that everyone loves and the team that everyone loves to hate, and that's what the Cowboys are. That moment, I think it's like I had a best friend who was a Cowboys fan, and he's the one that made me a football fan. And, like, watching how quickly Jimmy Johnson turned that operation around from a one in 15 nightmare post Tom Landry to a absolute juggernaut. And so I invited my friend, I'll tell you a really fast story. I was in Washington, D.C. in college, and there was a,

Redskins Washington game and we were on the subway just going to go to Redskins Cowboys. We were going to go to a sports bar and not in this subwave car. My friend had Troy Ekman Jersey on and there was like thousands of Redskins fans and like as we come to our stop and you know the door

is about to open I just go I want to tell you people something and like the whole place went silent because they're thinking like there's a terrorist there's a bomb and go how about them cowboys? We walk out the doors closed and we're just like everyone's just giving us the bird as we're driving off. Stop. That's awesome. Good memory, Mark. All right, let's get to the news. Alvin Kamara will be suspended for three games for his role in a fight outside of Las Vegas nightclub last year. He was facing felony charges, pleaded that down, took care of the legal side. Now is the football side of it after a conversation with Roger Goodell last week. So he's out of the picture, Greg, for three games. Jamal Williams is now stepping into a role from Detroit last year where he set the team record to really get his.

his footing in this offense. I think this is very good news for Jamal Williams, who gets the start in a big-time role with the rookie behind him. It's interesting they brought in Kareem Hunt for a workout or a meeting on Monday, so this could be dated or they might not sign them right away. I didn't think that would necessary, and I don't think it's a bad thing for Camara to miss three games. I think that was probably on the average or maybe a little less than what people expected.

And I did notice over the weekend, Nick Underhill, who does good work for New Orleans Football.com. He had an article where they have data. They have censors on Alvin Camara. Based on the work that he's done this offseason, his burst is back. They can prove it that he looks better. He looks different.

I think he's going to have a monster year. Well, you've been touting Camara all offseason. So that's good evidence for you. Greg's career is kind of hanging in the balance. It is a little because we had our running back draft, and I thought that was a tough moment for Greg. We've been over that. I don't know.

I want to know what he talked about with, Goodell because it's like these suspensions come out one guy six games one guy three someone else the entire season and like the actual variance of what occurred like alvin kamara's situation was not minor no it's a terrible look for the league and for him and he acknowledged that and it's like three games felt soft i'm not trying to like bang this hammer left and right but it just felt a little bit like people forget about these things so quickly that the punishment's light and we're talking about how fast he is on a monitor i think there's something to be said there that it's interesting to me it was people who covered the sport what the media and what the public latches onto in terms of outrage and anger and what kind of gets rushed. A man hitting another man like in a club does not get outrage.

It just doesn't. I mean that's not, it doesn't mean it's excusable. And it's not. He suspended three games. But to your point, by the way, I think him taking a count of one-on-one a man squaring up with another man and fisticombs. This was a beating by a group of men that Kamar was a part of it's kind of a vile thing. But it's

It's something that, in general, people just move past. I think taking accountability, settling the lawsuit, apologizing, saying it was his fault and that he regrets it. That's fair. I think that actually does probably knock a game off. Maybe it shouldn't be like that. But if you compare that to something like Deshaun Watson, where he never really took accountability, he's still getting hugs from Goodell. So maybe it doesn't matter. I don't really know.

But I think that helped Camara in this case. Chief's edge rusher, Charles O'Manehue, was suspended six games for violations of the personal conduct policy. That suspension stems from a domestic violence incident in January. So that was, you know, along those same lines. This is another violence incident involving a woman. He signed a two-year $16 million contract at the time of the situation. Yeah, I think that is telling. I mean, I think there was some Deshaun Watson fatigue because when this happened last year,

the 49ers were like, well, we're not worried about it. We don't think it's a big deal. He ended up playing for them in the playoffs after this incident. And you're right, it didn't get much attention at all. It didn't hurt his money. I think the NFL teams show you how seriously they take it that he still got a really good contract. I think the chiefs are a little surprised, actually, that he got suspended because I don't know if they would have given him all that money.

and they are very thin in terms of their pass rushers. It is not a good pass rushing group, even with a menahoe. Yeah, I mean, it may help move things along with Chris Jones to some degree, but he was brought in to essentially replace Frank Clark. I wonder if someone like Carlos Dunlap, who was there a year ago, could be brought in because I think, you know. Clowny is out there. I don't think they thought six games was going to be the result here.

No, it was so off the radar. And that's where I think media coverage can make a difference. It was so off the radar that, like the 49ers didn't take any heat for play. him in the in the nfc championship or anything like that and the chief certainly didn't take any heat for the signing and i don't think it affected his money at all but but he's taking the suspension interesting how it works yonick and gacway uh signs a deal with the chicago bears nice money uh this late one year 10 and a half million 10 million guaranteed for a guy that had 19 and half sacks over the last two seasons uh great that feels like i know engaukway's not the same guy was a few years ago but for a bear's team that could not get to the quarterback last year a nice signing also mercedes lewis the forever tight end he latches on with the bears for another ride from the 2006 draft crazy i think jd's pumped i think he was in the same draft class with mjd am i crazy yeah with the jaguars yeah that's why mjv's pumping him up every sunday every sunday every

sunday and we're watching it marcedes lewis will be brought up in some capacity as somebody that needs to keep playing he's in his 18th year i love that the bears did that i don't know if i love ingachway as a player he's not good as a run defender they immediately said he's playing every down, which says a lot about the rest of the bear's defensive ends that he's, but the money says that too. But I hate unspent cap space. I really think teams don't when you have two, there is such a thing as too much

cap space and they had too much going into this off season. They've tried to spend as much as they can, but I think it makes their team better so like spend it. Yeah, I think this got them to the floor, but they, this was you know, this is a team with holes, but the past rushing situation was pretty dire. I was surprised they didn't go

and heat seek some of the guys will talk about in this new segment that has signed somewhere else. I like in Gokwe, but other than that, you've got, like, DeMarcus Walker. It's a really young defense. And it's like, Matt Iberfluse is heading another season where like, you're meant to put a stamp on this side of the ball. And that was the opposite of that happened last year. It's like, what I want to, I think he's under a lot of pressure to show that he's special. I think they feel good about their linebackers and their secondary. The secondary is pretty young. But you're right. They were a terrible

defense. The pro football Hall of Fame, in other news, we've got to get out to the practice school. But in other news, the pro football Hall of Fame, welcome nine new players. to the club this weekend. Ronde Barber, Dorel Revis, Ken Riley, linebackers, Chuck Howley, Cowboys, Great, Zach Thomas, DeMarcus Ware, and Joe Thomas, along with defensive lineman Joe Cleco of the Jets and coach Don Correel, famous of the Air Correel defense. Let's listen to a couple quick soundbites starting with Zach Thomas on a player and a friend that he misses. There's one person whose name I've yet to mention. His poster hung on my wall in college, and he was everything I wanted to be as a football player. He was my inspiration, and he became my teammate and friend. Though he's not here physically, he's hearing spirit and in a bust in that building behind me. I'm truly honored to join him.

Junior Seah, love you, buddy. Very sad. and also connecting the past with his induction was Dorel Revis. Jets's great and Patriot Super Bowl winner. I didn't get the chance to play with this guy named Dionne Sanders, but he was a prototype for me. What Jordan is to Kobe is prime to Revis Island. You came first, and I wanted to play just like you.

You were the roadmap to greatness. You got to be giving you this speech in Canton. and to be able to just connect yourself to all those great players of all time. In another forum, I would bump up. I mean, if someone else came up with that out of thin air, I would have a problem with it. But Dorel Revis, okay. It was funny when he mentioned the Patriots quickly

and the crowd just booze. It's all Jets fans. They're not Patriots fans there. Ruvon Routon Revis. It was kind of like a funny, I wouldn't say side plot, but it was like I saw an NBC coverage of the Hall of Fame game when they were interviewing before the game because it was like Rodney Harrison and Devin McCordy

and they're kind of giving him some grief about the Patriots and he's feeling he's feeling awkward with that. And there's just like a, and I think they were almost being, Rodney had a tone where he's almost being a jerk about it. It's like, no. Whereas like, you know, don't forget it, Jets fans essentially

that he got his ring with that word. Revis is like, come on, bro. No, that's why people hate the Patriots. I was just playing. But he did play great for the Patriots, which I think actually was an important, not that he wasn't going to make the Hall of Fame, but I think it was an important coda to his career

because Buxie was underrated, but it was a little up and down, and he did have one more great year, which is something you see with a lot of these Hall of Famers where there's that one year, like 10 years in where they remind you of why he was so great, and that was him in New England. And, you know, I have to talk about his Jets career then

if we're going to talk about that, just because... By the way, we got C.D. Lamb walking right by the set here. Wow, it looks like an action hero. Watching him and his prime, that 08 to 12 when he hurt his knee. I'll never forget it. He's his ability to shut down the best player in the field just changed everything for Rex Ryan and that defense. And I'll always remember the first year of Rex when they seem like they were out of the playoffs and Rex even came out after a bad week 16 loss and said, well, we're done.

The season's over. And then a bunch of things broke their way and they had a chance to make the playoffs if they beat Cincinnati on Sunday night football. And this is when Chad Johnson, Chad Ocho Singo was seen as one of the great players. And Revis just erased him from that game. Then they had a rematch against Cincinnati the next week. And he erased Ocho Sinko again. And he just did that regularly. It didn't matter.

There was no guy that always got the better of Durel Revis. Stevie Johnson sort of famously was the one guy who would give him trouble. It was just like, I don't know what the hell Stevie Johnson is going to do. He just makes stuff up as he goes along. That playoff win over the Bengals was a high. point for the Jets, I thought, because the Bengals did not take them seriously at all, and they steamrolled them. Well, beating the Bengals on the playoffs is something everybody gets to do, you know, or used to be able to. Finally, Zach, excuse me, finally, Joe Thomas,

Colleen Wolves, friend, and Brown's great. With that said, it's the greatest honor of my career to be able to accept this Lifetime Award on behalf of all of Browns Nation. hype down mark Cleveland you could always count on me thank you so much for allowing me to count on you don't forget to keep showing up for each other God bless the Cleveland Browns

God bless America and God bless football the greatest game of all thank you Mark they're calling you they're calling you home Joe Thomas is someone I would

I just snorted. Go home. Allow to guide me. You can go home. Here are the angels, the sirens, waving you. Berea. Berea.

Okay, so by home you don't mean like the afterlife. You mean the browns, okay. Yeah. The latter sounds more comforting. But I mean, I don't think being coerced into it is the organic way to go. There's no coercement at all here. None, not at all.

He said it himself. Joe Thomas said, stay together, stick together. Separate from all of that. I think he was talking to you. Separate from that Tom Fullery, like Joe Thomas, you know, we know him a little bit. He's been on our show.

Like I texted him just to say, like, the one thing I think about him is like, we got to know him a little bit more as a person and as a broadcaster. And I know Colleen, like, thinks the absolute world of him. And he brought her into, like, his fold of, like, all these ex-NFL linemen hanging out. eating steaks, drinking beers. I'm like, Joe Thomas is a great guy

who I hope continues to do television and broadcasting and he used his creativity for a long time because it's like he started out as this player that logged 10,000 plus consecutive snaps, never let anyone down. I've never done 10,000 things in a row. Who else has? And he's a special, special player and a good dude.

Greatest Brown of the last, what, 25 years? He was also great from his first ever game. There's no growth process. He was great right away. It's crazy because he really made a, he really talked about all the different quarterbacks he had and that he literally said during his speech how he ended his career on a 1 and 31 heater.

And I was like, wow, it is really, it's actually really unique to be like a first ballot upper tier Hall of Famer, no doubt about it, and associated with losing. Like it's fascinating and he like took it in such a, I don't know, like such a, it didn't seem to bring him down at all, which is a credit to the man. I do have one like, turn in the punch bowl take on the Hall of Fame because I'm into the Hall of Fame. I would love to be a voter.

I know you are. I would like to be a voter. I have thoughts. I don't know what the solution is here. There's too much posthumous guys getting in, and I don't mean that they don't deserve to get in. I mean, this is like the greatest moment in their. careers, even posthumously, and for their families, and it should be a moment of celebration. And I kept thinking, because, you know, Ken Riley is no longer with us, the Bengals cornerback, Don Correale, Chuck Howley is alive, but wasn't able to speak just because of medical stuff.

I'm thinking, like, this was so bittersweet for all of their families and everyone. It's not, it was a celebration, but they're also, like, really sad about it. and I'm not saying you shouldn't like let them in I'm saying like they should come up with a way that like the same amount of people should be getting in but do it early because this is it's like a celebration for the living I honestly think like it's a little bit of an issue when four the family gets four of the night the remaining family does get so I understand what you're saying I'm not saying don't do it I'm almost trying to speak for them because hearing them talk about it too they say it's better sweet it's like the definition of better sweet that here's they can't be there with it. I think the problem is great. You can come up structurally with, I think, getting the Veterans Committee in guys maybe a little earlier in the process. There's nobody here that thinks that it's better that they should be celebrated as a dead

person than a living person. So that's, I get, we all get that, but like, there's a bottleneck because even if you look at the next year's eligible class, it's guys that we literally covered on this show. It's like there's so many eligible people. It's like, you just need to, you get, when we were growing up, you'd let, like, like five people into the Hall of Fame every year. And there was a lot of diminished smaller classes. Now you're adding categories, new items,

and the classes are getting bigger and bigger. So you just have to ask how big you want the class to be. I'm just saying that this is very seriously. And I wonder if anyone with the, like, whether they've thought about logistical things they can do, which is basically just shorten the period from when you're like an eligible person, the first time around and the veterans.

Shorten it up. This better be Greg oriented. This is football heaven. What is this? We're going to heaven. We're going to go to a Cowboys practice. Sirens, leave him alone. Or is this maybe, to your point?

It's hard to say. Yeah. 8 o'clock to light. Oh, no. Logan Wilson, Cam Jordan, and Malie Cooker, who's out on the field. right now, the safety for the Cowboys. All got contract extensions this weekend.

I love that Logan Wilson deal. And Cam Jordan, I think that's his fourth contract. I mean, the Bengals under Lou Anaramo and keeping Logan Wilson, keeping Jermaine Pratt, there's consistency. I love that for this team. I thought he was the best free agent linebacker that was going to be available. Justin Houston to the Panthers. What's this doing in 8 o'clock?

He can still play. I figure we got to get moving. Broncos have had a lot of injuries. Jonas Griffith, who's a rotational linebacker, but a contributor. for them. And then Riley Moss, a rookie who's maybe going to start at cornerback, both out. Griffith for the season, Moss for at least a month. And then Jeff Okuda, the cornerback for the Falcons out at least a month. They cannot get it going. Jeff Kuda, the former first round pick of the lines trying to start over. All right, that's what's

happening in the news. All right, boys, it's time for us to hit the practice field where the cowboys are doing their thing. We'll come back here, talk to some players, share some takeaways. This sound like a good plan. Mark, is this a good plan? I think it's a master plan. good might suit you up put you out there with third string hey he played i did i've taken a look at the current players and i don't think that's a great idea for me well a lot of big men all right let's see if mark can get out there and still play the guitar but before that i want to tell you something promo time football is back and nflbler network has every preseason game including 23 live big names putting new cities

on their backs a new class putting their names on the map listen to this your team is back in action it's time for football the NFL preseason august 10th through the 26th on nfl network and streaming on nfl plus all right let's take a break we'll be right back all right welcome back uh just off the practice field is the great linebacker of the dallas cowboys latin van deresh latin welcome to around the nfl another w for the d in practice today yeah i mean it was it felt like it was a pretty even practice today. It was fun. I mean, they got theirs and we got ours, but that's what makes practice fun is, is, you know, when you got a good team, I mean, it's battling back and forth,

and they're going to get some, and we're going to get some. So it makes the atmosphere fun. Everybody's flying around and having fun. I don't know if we've ever had an athlete, a player right off the field. You still got the gloves on, the cleats, the pads. Are you a little worried, like it's too intimidating for sitting next to Mark here? Who was a four- Your intimidation? Yeah, but it was a former player. In like 1991 in Peewee football, but he did play. Yeah. Renowned.

He's like, how do I answer that question? No one. I don't even know that wasn't an answer. Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. So the Stan Quinn defense really balled out last year. Okay. Where do you think the Cowboys stand in that conversation of the best defense?

Do you think it gets overlooked a little bit when they talk about it? I mean, we're focused on proving ourselves every single day. So it really doesn't matter what we did last year or the year before. We're trying to better that and be absolutely elite this year. But we have to come out here and put in the work every single day to do that. So we can talk about it all I want, but at the end of the day, I don't matter. And that's not what we're focused on. We're focused on being the best version of ourselves and as a crew of the defense.

About a week ago, this video surfaced of Diggs and DAC getting into it in the end zone. And, like, you know, the thing it annoyed me and annoyed all of us, It's like the next day on all the talking head shows, everyone's asking, is this an issue? Can you just clear up? Like, in training camp, you've been doing this for weeks. It's hot out. You guys are challenging each other. Don't these things happen all the time and you just move on with it?

Every day, probably every minute occurrence in practice. It's normal. Two football guys chopper up there. It's just want to clear up that myth. We're all used to it. I saw you guys getting after a little bit today. You were coming off the edge a lot. You've been kind of an off ball linebacker mostly, but just,

At least in this practice, we were watching you, mostly coming off the edge. Is that a different role for you? What are you doing? Yeah, really just trying to grow my game and just being more dynamic. Just keep growing in any area I can, just keep developing. I mean, adding tools to your toolbox, it's super important in this game. And obviously, it can make it tough on a lot of other offenses. So just trying to better myself as an individual player, so it betters the defense.

I'm curious, like, you're kind of the quarterback of that defense. You've been with this defense now a long time. looking at the Eagles in your division obviously that that's a team that got to where you guys wanted to go to last year the Super Bowl when when you're watching them when you're on the field against them are you more worried about like what are they going to do next and trying to figure out what they're going to do or are you more worried about just you know what they're going to do but they just do it so well how do we stop them um I'm really worried about what we're doing because I know that if all 11 guys on our team and on our side of the ball are doing what

are supposed to be doing. Nobody's going to beat us. So it's focusing on ourselves, really. What about like during a practice like today or maybe even in a real game, does your mind ever drift and you're just thinking about like tacos or Xbox or other things? Or are you just like a robot? Are you like

super laser focused nonstop? You try as much as you can to be as laser focus as you can. Your mind might drift here and there. Maybe if you're like, if you just subbed out or something. But I mean, that's what's important is if you can realize that and bring yourself back in and lock back in.

That's the important thing. You've got to be able to catch yourself in those moments. It doesn't matter if you're tired. It doesn't matter if you're thinking about anything else. You've got to bring yourself, reel yourself back in and lock in every single play. Because those are mental reps that you can get on the side. Every rep during practice is your rep, regardless of whether you're on the field

or whether you're on the side. Like I get that, but there's this news for the guys. Mark's actually been thinking about tacos the whole time you were answering that question. So last question, because you know you're a busy guy and fresh out the practice field. I got to make a question that's important, and it counts. I'm looking at your cleats, again, you're in full uniform. You're a gridiron warrior. There's a rip in the cleats.

Do those disappear forever now, or do you have lucky cleats or cleats that you are attached to? Or is that it for these now? Well, I just broke these in, so, and I got a huge ripping them last practice, so I'm going to keep wearing it. Oh, you ride with them? Yep. Well, again, Mark, you can relate, I know. It's less and less of a degree. Yes.

Leighton Vandreche, thank you so much for giving us a few minutes here and best of luck in 2023. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. All right, there he goes. A tight five with Leighton Vandrish. Mark, a little too much callbacks

to your playing days or not enough? No, I thought it was far too many. And I think we threw him off key a little bit with that. But that's okay. I think he underneath it understood this guy did play roughly two and a half decades ago, maybe. That you, this guy. Yeah, well, Greg, I mean, you made it very clear.

I think you made the situation. extremely clear and I think you painted a fair picture of that I played irrelevantly as a youth I he reminds me of a player that you could imagine playing 20 30 years ago in the 80s or 90s he always had yeah the neck roll yeah I think that was because of his injury concerns but I always think of west when I think of late in vander esh yes he was so in on that rookie season jalen smith too the two of them together of late in evander off and he's a good example of man, NFL careers, like he's only been in the league since 2018, but he's had ups, he's had downs, he's had injuries, and it's cool to see him established.

Now he's, he's one of the leaders of this team. I mean, going into last year, it seemed like maybe he was already part of their past in terms of being an impact player. And then he has a really nice bounce back season and he's an important guy. And maybe we'll start, we'll start there as we, you know, we were on the practice field. Very cool. It was very good vibes on the field. You know, we got, we got to watch some of the defensive.

drills and we went and saw a really good long 11 on 11 with the Cowboys offense with Dak and the first team really matching up against the defense and we talked to Clarence Hills covered the Cowboys forever and he said it's been the defense most days. And this day was the offense was better. And yet, Greg, it seemed very hard for the offense to move the ball against Van derush in this defense and the practice that we saw. Yeah, I guess at the very beginning like they hit a mojo moment so that that's a big that's a big spot for them and in the run game had some moments but they just couldn't protect that press guy he didn't have cd lamb out there but it like looked like the 49ers playoff game because within two seconds of every single one of these

plays he's facing an incredible amount of pressure and they're not holding anything back the end quinn is showing a ton of different formations parsons is all over the field i mentioned how van Rush is on the edge and they're winning time after time after if we had all the time in the world like I would want to ask like offensively like are you getting sick of Michael Parsons because he was in the backfield he would have had three or four sacks in the plays that we watch yeah but then then you go face lesser defenses and I think all this work has you know has a huge benefit on the offense but you're right I thought for chunks of the of the of the session they weren't really trying to test the ball deep they didn't have CD they were working on a lot of like

growing to running backs and doing stuff over the middle. But the one thing about being at these practices on the sideline, and they're catching a screener and coming within two feet of you, and it's like you get a sense for how massive and gigantic these people are. And, like, the Cowboys defense, to me, especially physically, looks so intense. And it was these practices, like, they've been heated. We knew that there had been fights and stuff before.

And, like, today I was just, like, kind of an eye open to see how hard they were going at each other. I just, all I was thinking was, like, don't come to. this way, don't come this way, because there's a couple of times where the guys come hard. Yeah. And at that point, there's, if you're in the wrong spot, you're, you're, you're making headlines. You're getting, you're getting tweets. It's, you're living, you're living that down. So we survive.

I saddled up next to Mark and I did throw out a hypothetical to Mark. What would happen if there was a, a collision on the sideline, you get hit, you just get caught in the wrong spot of the arm. Right. There's some nerve damages. There's only so much doctors can do at this time in terms of modern medicine and science. You lose the arm. I mean, is it, you want to live at that point?

Because you have to tell that story for the rest of time. Yes. You'll answer to your question, yes. Like, that's your answer. On the sideline. It's a belittalian. Right. It's a belittalian scenario.

I would essentially turn around immediately and sue the cowboys and see what I can get out of it financially. That's definitely, I'm sure we'll get a credential next year after that. I would possibly walk into the ocean. With minus arm. I just don't want to tell that story. It's a terror. There's no way the story is going to make anyone more impressed with you. No, Greg seems to think that, you know, it's something that he could tell with pride.

I don't know. It's not so much that, but I still believe I would have a lot to live for. It was just bad luck, ultimately. I maybe wouldn't try to get into the high road, Rosenthal. And, you know, I've got my children to think about. But I was worried. What about your pride, Greg? I have no pride.

I lack pride. I was thinking, like, watching that practice. Duce Vaughn is an inspiration for anyone like myself, five, six, and under to be out there. And they pop some running plays. They were getting excited. You could tell they actually took advantage of Parsons' aggressiveness on one play and actually did pop a nice running play. But asking Duce Vaughn to pass protected, he was there with the starters. And he did okay on a few.

But then there were a couple that were like, okay, this is what training camp is for. You're trying it out. but I don't know if you want him protecting Dak Prescott on Sunday. He's a fan favorite though. We'll see out where we are in October. There's an unnamed person who told us that it's, you want to get him on video and share it as much as possible.

It's called deuce porn because people just like to see a guy that little to thrive on the football field. And you did great point on that, that you heard the players whooping it up on some of those running plays, Deuce included, because everything you read from the beat report is that the defense has been winning. And seeing Michael Parsons up close, it's like, uh,

listen, like we don't know where he's going to come down at the end, but the, the LT comparisons aren't off base at this point based on what he's done so far. And the way the beat writers talk about him, it's in hushed tones like he's literally ruining practice for the offense because they're just trying to get their feet wet and he's living in the backfield. So watching his combination of size and speed, everybody looks big and fast here when you're here,

especially if you don't cover these teams. day to day like we don't do that but he stands out even more is just like this freak it's kind of cool to see it up close no their defense i mean i looks to be like picking up where it left off i'll tell you one other person that kind of changed my mind about them a little bit jerry jones like i mean every time i looked he's up in a like a stage somewhere taking photos with tons of people he was walking guests around like the fans were going crazy for him i mean i just say like there's owners that like they're billionaires and they vanish and like the football side of it oh but he loves it more than anyone else he's up in the tower like point

He lives for this. This is the world that he built. I was impressed by because he's, I think, in his 80s now. At one point, I saw him on the far side of one of the two practice fields here. And then I walked the corner and I came down the sideline towards where they were doing the 11 on 11. And Gerald was up in the tower, which was easily a hundred yards away. And then an elevator or five flights of steps. How did he do it?

I don't know. Not a small guy either. Former, you know, college player. former D1 athlete. Yeah, that's true. Any other takeaways from practice? I got, I got one. I posted it on a X, Twitter, Twitter.

Just say Twitter as well. Or X. It's really hard. It's tough. It's tough sitch. Tough sitch for the journalism community. DAC unfurled a beautiful deep ball that wasn't brought in. But as good as the running game was, like everything, everything was checked down in short and everything was covered.

So I do think there's so much. with the Cowboys, there's so much coverage of DAC, the darkness of it all and the offense and the narrative around this team and the failure to step up in big moments in January, that the defense, I do, and Banderec, go under the radar a little bit. Parsons not so much, but the defense has a chance to really carry this team as much as the offense. I, you know, you just line it up and I would say the Cowboys or the 49ers should be the best defense in the league. Now, defense is very hard to predict. But to me, those are the two teams

going into the season that I would go with. Because Parsons, like, yeah, he's had an all-time great start to his career, but he was like playing another position. Like, he didn't even really know how to be an edge rusher. He was still playing off ball linebacker at this point in practice a year ago at this time. And like the sound that you, that everything that's coming out around him and how he's showing up to this game, sounds like he's maybe at another level. And him at another level with four or five defensive ends behind him that are really good and a really good secondary they've got them all locked up we mentioned the malik hooker i just think this defense is loaded and i talked to uh michael galkin who's covered this team for a while now used

to cover the chargers now the cowboys he said this is easily the best team he thinks he's ever covered between those chargers teams and the cowboys teams over the last year and the offense is going through i know it's still mike mccarth it's going to be more similar than a complete like change on offense, but that's still a transition, but it's another year in Dan Quinn's defense. And it's like Van deresh talked about adding stuff to his game, adding stuff to what he can do. And it's like, they're going to do that with all these guys. They just look completely cohesive. It's cool seeing up close practice what these teams work on because they have to be ready. Oh, there comes to Jared Red Pines. They have to be ready for, you know, you got a little

wave. So Jerry Jones just walked by. That was like a low, like a fist wave. And it was just kind of like a wave at us. It was a point. Do you think he's a little? Do you think he's a little. he recognized? No. Absolutely not. Unless he remembers the time that I approached him at the Combin late. Yeah, but we've been on TV. There's a chance.

I mean, there's an outside chance he saw the NFL plus polos that were wearing, but I think it's more likely that I kind of pointed to him first. I looked for the, the, the, I think you recognize me, I think. I think that's what I think. I think it's very interesting to hear everyone's takeaways on this particular situation. He's just like, I was a big fan of the end around. back in the day. We've accomplished a lot of NFL media,

and he's got his fingers and everything. That's fair. Maybe he knows the podcast. Well, he knows me. So I wanted to say, yeah, it's crazy seeing it up close. They have drills to react. The defense, how to react to a loose ball. They're doing scoop and scores

and seeing how everybody even has a role with that, that you're trained to be ready for those scenarios. Then like a 6'8, 320-pound guys rumbling into the end zone, scoring a touchdown. He was very happy about it. They even build in TV timeout. You hear on the sound system, it's like these guys then take the break

because they're trying to simulate these things to be ready. One other thing, and we got Michael Gallup coming up. I have one more thing. You guys want to throw out anything? Please do. Brian Schottenheimer will always be 31 years old. He's got to be in his mid-40s now at this point.

Very vivacious. I think he learned some secrets from Pete Carroll. Well, no, he was out there chopping it up. That's the first time vivacious has not been used to describe a young woman. And I appreciate it. I think we should, ungender vivacious you have to be you have to have to have a certain level

ungender vivacious we will let's make a note of that you have to do to wear the visor backwards I think was it upside down too he's been doing that for a long time but yeah to do that move when you are in your fourth decade it takes a little bit of that takes a little nards and he does it his father had some fire and I see it in him he's putting the nard in Oxnard. Here's another little takeaway, by the way. These refs are in summer shape out here. We put the nards in Oxnard around the NFL.

There's a cell, Eric. Anything else? I think we covered it. All right. With that said, we saw the defensive side of the ball. We're talking about late in Vandrash. Now let's talk about a very important piece of the offense. Michael Galp.

Hit it. All right. Our next guest is a very important piece of the puzzle for the Cowboys in 2023. wide receiver. Michael Gallup, welcome to around the NFL. Yes, I appreciate to have me. So happy to have you. Michael, this is read about it. You're a full year, another year removed from knee surgery, and you say that your mental game, mentally you're all the way back. I was curious as like a professional athlete. What was it last year that just felt different and how are things in a different place now and a better place? I think just coming off, you know, really any injury,

you got to you got to make sure that you have your mental's right. I'm not. I'm not. I mean, everybody says they're good, you know, but there's always something a little bit up under the table that you're not trying to express to everybody. But that was my big problem. I said that was good mentally. I really wasn't, but physically I knew I was good. So I could go out there and do enough, but, you know, it wasn't enough to be out there, you know, I shouldn't have been playing like that. Do you feel like you're in a better, kind of a good spot here because they bring in Brandon Cooks, obviously, CEDs here, and now you're feeling better physically and mentally, and maybe they're not expecting as much on the outside. It kind of sets you up nice to surprise some people.

Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, that's how it's kind of always been. You know, all my years here playing for the Cowboys. I just kind of been that, you know, third wide receiver, a little outlier. But, I mean, if they get doubled, that means I've got to be one-on-one. So that's easy pickings for me. I was watching you out there in practice today, and I was wondering who would you rather go against?

And what's the difference when you're lining up across from either Trayvon Diggs or Stefan Gilmore? I'd rather go against Trey Stefan, he's just too smart He calls out to play before you even line up You know, it's pretty tricky playing with him But they're both good competition Either one of them I like going up against either one of the great football players

Just helping me get better Trayvon sounds like he talks a lot Do you talk to you talk back Trayvon talks more to Dak He doesn't really talk to the wider series We learn that These camps like you know I know it's been a grind at this point

You've been here for a long time They always talk about it being You go away You guys are a special team that goes to a completely different part of the country. You're hanging out together all the time. Is it like a bonding experience, or are you kind of like, I love you guys, but I need to have some of my own time?

Like, what does the rest of the day look like? Can you get away? Do you bring in your own bed? Yeah, I mean, McCarthy actually does it pretty well for us. He sets it up to where it's like, you know, we're not just in meetings till 10 p.m. at night and stuff like that. He's done, you know, age. He's done figured it out that you don't have to be in meetings, you know, 24-cept.

Everybody needs their own time to recover, you know, have their own space. So I definitely just go back to my room because I know I'm going going to be with you, you know, at seven in the morning again all the way till about six. What do you do in the, like reading books, playing games, like talking to people on the phone? Mine's more, you know, calling family and stuff, checking in on everybody. I'm nosy, sorry. This is definitely coming from Mark's, like, he's imagining himself as a player, and he was a former player, you know, in Peeway. Because he would be trying to get away from us.

It would be too much time with his coworkers. He would just be, like, hiding out in the room. Yeah, it's definitely understandable. I can hear it. There's always a couple of those guys. Does Mike McCarthy allow guys to, like, ship in their own beds and stuff? Does that happen with this team? I doubt it.

And, you know, isn't that show why the Cowboys are a team to reckon with? Because we'll sleep in, like, the beds that are uncomfortable here. I mean, it's not a dorm. It's a hotel. It's not too bad. At least it's not like a bunk bed or anything. You know, me, I can get my own room now. You know, we're up there a little bit.

Who did you grow up rooting for? Were you a football fan? No, I really just rooted for players. I love watching Calvin Johnson. definitely Julio Jones Crumpler To be honest And Michael Grumpler

Yeah Okay Well that one got to snuck up Did the Cowboys ever get on your radar When you were like a kid As like why did the Cowboys get so much attention So you hear too much about these Cowboys I was doing too much other stuff

I wasn't even really playing sports when I was little I was out there on the farm I was fishing I was doing all type of stuff I wouldn't really into sports like that Wow what is your what is your I know it's a long way off hopefully but your post NFL life is it back to the farm post NFL life yeah I'm probably going to be a pro fisherman to be oh I like wow fly fisher or no no just straight bad I didn't do that fly that's

too much work for no reason that's why I always say like with these parents that have their kids in one sport all the time and it's just like focus focus it's like if if you're met if you're good enough to be a pro athlete you can just be like Michael Gallup not caring about sports not playing sports out there fishing and then you'll end up in the pros anyway are you are you are you anti-farm now at this point or are you just saying you don't want to make that the center I can't be anti-farm. My sister has like 400 acres back home in Georgia. So it's like when I go home, that's the only place.

We're going to set up like a point, counterpoint Michael Galb versus Willie Nelson on farm life and the future of it in this country. Michael can't wait to see back on the field. I feel good, legit, not just because he's here. Michael Galb is having a big year this year and is going to be a major reason the Cowboys are going to be better on offense this year. Good luck to you, good sir. Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Thanks, Michael.

There he goes. You know, Greg, I personally had made that it. decision to not bring up Mark Sessler's playing days after we hit it hard with Vanderec, but you went right back at it. And you could tell Sessler is getting a little agitated. And I said, you're playing with fire, bro. Mark, yeah, it just came up naturally. It wasn't.

Naturally is a stretch. I feel like it's like a mind control attempt by Greg to like body shame the person to his left so that his own body isn't compared to the giant player sitting to my left. I mean, this is. That's an incredible theory. It's so wild. Maybe right. Everyone around us is laughing because they can see the threads connect.

No, they're laughing because they just got inside of Mark Sessler's mind. And it's a dark place. All right. Let's ask. I think that's absolutely correct here. Let's let let our great team here, Parker, Eric, Jay, Randy. Do you think Greg was attempting to body shame Mark by making the references to his playing? career, Pee Wee with a big player next to him.

Let's hear it. No. Big Randy? Randy's nodding. He's nodding. Okay. Jay behind the camera? I think we lost some of the details there.

Three to one. So three to one says, Greg, it was nefarious. I don't know if you've noticed, but my body is like immaculate. I'm huge. I'm strong. I'm big. That's why I bring it up to these players because there's such a contrast between me and you.

When it's coming from someone like me, it's like, oh yeah he's really picking on the little guy here yeah well anyone on the audio version only can assess that that's correct uh gallop i first of i liked him yeah uh and i and i believe what i said i think he is set up um and it's a tough way it's a tough question to answer but i can only imagine last year when you're supposed to be quote healthy but you don't trust your body and you look at his numbers they were so depressed and he's almost like where latent vanderesh was a year ago where you've almost are you moving on from them at this point in terms of viewing them as a key piece but if certain things fall the right way and he's physically right i think he could be uh shoot i think he could get back to be in a 1,000 yard receiver even with cooks in the building we've seen it i mean i it's just another lesson where like these guys a year ago he's forced to ask or answer all these questions about his physical body is readiness and a lot of his mental and like what are you going to say other than like yes i'm ready because you can't expose any

weakness and like now a year later he's admitting like yeah my head was not in it the same way i would want it to be like body trying to get there it's like anyone that's coming off a major injury that tells us they're fine like it's a wait and see territory i mean yeah there's a lot of focus i think now on mental health in terms of like how we cover the nfl but that that's mental health too in that like it's pretty remarkable how open and honesty is about it's like i i wasn't right at this time a year ago and it and it is something i I do keep in mind with these players that it's like they're coming off the ACL and and they're there are two weeks away from full contact and they'll be ready for week one.

And it is a good thing to keep in mind that's like there's a lot of obstacles. And some, some will be fine, but some that are even on the field. I thought that that shows a lot, a lot of confidence. I think that you're able, if you're him, to just be so open and say that and that bodes well. Ready for week one is one of the trickiest things in the summer because, yeah, all these guys that are just trying to be ready but are you all the way back are you physically back maybe maybe not are you mentally back maybe not it sounds like gallop was really neither last year and that's not how he feels this year all right um more fun let's talk to the voice of the dallas cowboy shall we here comes brad sham the sham god we are pleased and thrilled to be joined by the voice of the dallas cowboys a man whose voice has become an important part of our soul Sunday flagship program. He had no idea until now.

Here is Brad Sham and Brad, you should know that I always, when I call your calls out, I say Brad Sham, the sham god. When God Sham God was playing at Providence, right? Yep. Yeah, I heard that a lot. Fortunately, I didn't think it was talking about me. But Dan, I was not trying to be humble when I told you before. I'm glad that you play the highlights.

And the reason I'm glad is my life is a lot better when they play well. And those highlights don't have anything to do with me. That's about them. You could be Vin Scully. And if the team stinks, you're never going to hear his voice. No, we only play the winning highlights. Exactly. The Jaguars play-by-play guy had a few years there.

There's a reason they're called highlights. You don't like to cover a team that goes through some waves of intense chaos as the Cowboys. I have. I've been, this is my 45th year. You've seen a, name an emotion and a something, a circumstance. I've, I've experienced all of them. Well, you've, with that said, you just got back from Canton where DeMarcus Swear, Cowboys is great, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a man who's been around from the

glory days with Landry in the 70s into the 80s, and then Jerra, of course, in the 90s, and still the Cowboys, even without the titles. Was that a Jerah? Did he just drop a Jerra in there? He, like, casually. I thought Sham God was your nickname. He just makes up nicknames for everyone. Mike McCarthy's Zaddy. I've written on NFL.com just casually J-E-R-R-A-A-H.

Yeah. They never catch it. By the way, if he's calling Jerry Mike McCarthy Zaddy, I think we've got a whole other set of problems. Oh, we've got large problems, trust me. We've got a whole nother. Listen, don't get me kicked out of here, right there. Brad, my question is, like, you've been to some probably epic ragers.

Like, I think Justin Timberlake played Jerry's. Yeah, stop there. Yeah. Is that the ultimate party? Yeah. I mean, Jerry built a tent. He built a city. And every, every flashy thing that you could think of happening in there happened.

And when Justin Timberlake is on the stage doing a private show for you for 45 minutes and you're standing at the foot of the stage, I'm not looking for better than that, really? You were telling us before the show that I had no idea. players have to pay for their own party. So, yeah, I don't think Jerry Jones is going to be one that's complaining about it. Well, no, Jerry was going to pay whatever, you know. But I think, yes, I mean, I don't know the percentages, but I know that through time, guys have had to pay for their own. And then so in the case of DeMarcus Weirs, I know that the Cowboys and the Broncos were

officially listed as putting the party on together. And I think that what that means is they made sure DeMarcus didn't have to spend any more than necessary. And I don't want to forget Chuck Howley either When we're talking about the Hall of Fame He was Tom Landry said he was the best linebacker he ever coached And we're just in an era now Where if you're 35 years old

Or younger, you never heard of Chuck Howley Until they announced his name But he was a special player And a tremendous guy Great in the Dallas community I feel like this pain for your own party Is not cool on some levels But especially one thing if you're Troy Ake

and you've established yourself as like a multi-millionaire 12 times over. But some of these senior guys that what kind of party are they hosting? It would be like at a YMCA because you're doing how you don't have that money from back then. I would say maybe a little step up from a YMCA, not that there's anything wrong with the YMCA. Sure, it's a nice place. But yeah, I would say a little more sedate perhaps. What are the vibes of the Cowboys now? You were there for the 90s glory years.

now there's been this long run obviously without getting back to the big game urgency-wise this season how important do you think this is for whether it's Mike McCarthy obviously DAC is comfortable and under contract but still it seems like there's a lot of pressure on this team yeah well

DAC likes to say pressure is privilege and I really like that because it gives you an opportunity to see what you're made of or crack but there's there's no question there's some urgency how about that for a word uh they've been to you know

the playoffs here's one thing that they when they made the playoffs and won 12 games for the second year in a row it was the first time in like 15 years they had done those two things right so you can't say they're not successful you can that that huge part of our population that defines success only as the person holding up the hardware at the end of the year they would say they weren't successful i'm not of that mind i think it's hard to say they were not successful uh but they they expect more of themselves they want more of themselves here's the problem for them i just saw a little clip a friend of mine is a personal friend of uh the 49ers center jake brendle and he was talking about how how hungry they are because they've got all this talent and all

of this and they haven't won the super bowl they haven't been to the super bowl in the last couple of years. So Dallas is not the only hungry team. Dallas is not the only motivated team. I think they're good. And usually, especially with the way pre-seasons are and the youth of the roster, I think they'll get better as the season goes along.

But I do think there's a sense of urgency because it has been a minute since they played in one of the last two games of the year. It's been chic for ever since Mike McCarthy took over, to say that he particularly is on the hot seat. And this is more of a national media perspective. And also because of the special sauce you get with Jerry Jones, constantly talking about the glory days,

it's a little bit different than an absentee owner that's somewhere in Europe. I would challenge you to find me a place where Jerry spends a lot of time talking about the glory days. Well, I can think of one press conference where they panned over to the Super Bowl trophies at one point, but maybe he's toned down on that. Jerry's not walking around here talking about,

gee, I wish this was the 90s. gee i wish our team was as good as the triplets team jerry never i've never heard him say that does he want to win another one or two or three you're darn right he does but he doesn't talk about that that's that's it's valid i think but it's a media driven narrative that's why it's good to come here i guess and unearth that truth well he also he also wants those 88s and i'm sure he loves all the Michael Irvin jerseys out there, but I was coming in thinking, like, there are still more 88 Irvins than there are 88 lambs. Yeah, and why do you think that is? Yeah, because of what you said. You're out here, though. I mean, you've been working with this team now for over 40 years,

but you're out here grinding like a journal. You're at the side press conference asking questions. You're finding out everything. What have you learned in these first two weeks of training camp, anyone flashing, any surprises, positions that are a little different than expected? The flashing is a key word because that's that is really what you kind of get i remember leon lat flashed and then you say i better pay attention to him and eric williams flashed now we're talking about a situation where they what have they had four padded practices it's really hard to get the same kind of handle and uh i can't imagine how many of their starters will see play football in the next three weeks so what you get is a sense of younger guys who might have a chance to be something.

I think their safety position is pretty good. I think that they have some defensive linemen more than they've had in the past. I think their wide receiver room is vastly improved, not just because they added Brandon Cooks, but because of some internal growth. And Michael Gallup was just a shadow of himself last year. He wasn't Michael Gallup. You know, I thought anyone who watched them play the 49ers in the playoffs could clearly see that especially when Tony Pollard went out

in the second half, C.D. Lamb was the only playmaker that Prescott had available, which I personally, based on all my years of coaching, I personally think that had something to do with his interceptions, which was an outlier statistic for him. But he didn't have, I mean, I love Zeke Elliott, and I frankly they you know they've gone a long time without ever asking me what a personnel decision should be I would love to have him here I would think he I think they're making a mistake I think they should somebody will somebody well it's a mistake if nobody's able to play that

role no I mean a mistake not having you on the uh personal staff yeah no trust me there that's not a mistake but um but someone's got to do that and and so what you see out here So that's a great example. What do you see? Well, I don't really need to watch much of Tony Pollard. But I do want to see the two guys behind him. Everybody wants to see Deuce Fawn, but I watched him playing college. I know what Deuce Fawn is.

He is Warren Sproles, I think. Darren Sproles. I think that's who he is. But the two guys behind him, I really like Malik Davis. But Dowdells, the guy has been hurt for two years. I think they think of him as more of a short. yardage back i don't know how much of it here you see you know you guys just heard mike mccarthy's talking about they are they have like two or three more installation periods

this week to put in specific things so when you get into a game a preseason game and it's third and one now let's see who they give the ball to and let's see what they try those are the things that you look for. But, I mean, I think they've got some quality all over the place. And is it going to be enough? They have to play complimentary football. And one thing they've got to do is find a kicker. You know, shame on us for burying the lead.

We are also journalists, and we've done this entirely. We've had two people appear on our show ever that appeared in a major motion picture directed by Oliver Stone. Jim Brown was one number of years ago. But you, we learned, also appeared. I think I'm totally intimidated. I have to leave that. Well, I mean, but we are.

You appeared in Oliver Stone. I did. I did. It was it's too long a story to go into about how I got it, but I did get it. And I'll tell you the big through. So I played a reporter who, parenthetically, it turns out, was John Dickerson, who is one of my heroes. I think he's just one of the greatest working journalists in America. And he was at Time Magazine when he asked President Bush at a news conference. which I remember watching what would you say were your biggest mistakes and what have you learned from them and and and President Bush could not really answer the question he had a hard time with it and you know I knew him I know him a little bit I when he when he was the owner of the Texas Rangers I dealt with him quite a bit and I was doing Ranger games when he was governor wow and he would come up and every now and then he'd sit in a booth and spend some time with us so uh one of the great one of the great treats for me in that process was uh about the month before we shot the scene um rehearsing it shot it in shreveport rehearsing it with uh stone and josh brolin and there's

nobody in the room but the three of us and a couple of uh staffers and So Brolin wants to understand what, and he's really digging, he's getting his hands dirty, trying to get inside George Bush's head. What's so hard about that question? I don't get it. And so I said, Josh, I'm not saying we go to dinner all the time, but I mean I know the guy a little bit, and then his eyes got why like that. And I said, here's the thing.

I think that George Bush had trouble answering that question. Because in his mind, you don't have to agree with him, but in his mind, everything he did from weapons of mass destruction and everything else, all of those things, especially in the war buildup, he did based on the best evidence he could get and he believed he was doing the right thing. So when you have all your people telling you this is how it is, Mr. President, and this is what we recommend, then what are you supposed to do? That's why you have advisors. So I said, I think the guy didn't answer it because he really didn't think he did anything wrong. He took himself back through the process, and he made the best decision he could based on the information that he had at the time, in his opinion. And the other thing I said to him was, you don't have to agree with George Bush's politics, and you can think the job's a little too big for him. But I'm just telling you, he's really a good guy.

and which he is he is George George W. Bush is really a good guy he's the kind of guy you would like to hang out with and that really resonated well just seeing brolin in his process was I don't when am I going to get a chance to do anything like that then the whole shooting the scene was surreal have I got like 30 seconds to tell you one more part yeah let a rip so I come into town the night before we shoot the scene late probably midnight by the time i got to the hotel room and they slide the call sheet under the door so here's who's you here's who your first thing i thought was it's midnight i just got here please don't let this be six a m and it wasn't it was 10 o'clock okay good now this the the um call sheet shows you with whom you are in the scene so here's Rob Cordry who's playing Shapiro, the press secretary and Toby Jones is

playing Carl Rove. And so they're all standing up along. And I was fine until I saw Richard Dreyfus. That's a tough one. Who's playing Cheney. And I'm all alone

sitting in this hotel room and I looked up and said out loud, I looked at Richard Dreyfus's name and I said, what the blank am I doing here? But they were all great. It was, I mean, I love what I do. I've got a passion for what I do or I wouldn't have been doing it so long.

But that's got to be the most fun I ever had working, probably because I don't do it very often. It's wild. That's cool. I wonder who we're going to get next from the Oliver Stone Tree. We got two good ones so far. Jim Brown and the great Brad Sham. Thank you so much for your time and we'll be listening to you again this season. God willing.

Thank you. All right. There goes, Brad. Very good. I would say, Mark, if, okay, so we got. sham god from w 2006 we got the late jim brown from any given sunday 99 maybe we get a little woody harrison next i think that would fit a little natural war and killers fit right into the show there's such an obvious choice here someone that um you've been trying to bring back his catchphrase for

the better part of a decade it's charlie she i mean i think we're at the point where our great call our careers have been on a slow incline. I'm not saying Meteorque, but a slow incline. I think we're at the point now. He's going the other way. We're going to meet. Sheen, I'm just saying he hasn't had a ton of airtime. Maybe he's ready to join the around the NFL podcast.

I think it would benefit both sides now, a little platoon look back. Yeah, that's a great call. And speaking of Hollywood and just how different is Cowboys Camp than anywhere else. I honestly, for a second thought it was Tom Cruise. I mean, so I totally get... Check out our socials for the reference point. Tom Cruise lookalike. An incredible Tom Cruise clone who could do the laugh, the gestures.

But here's the thing that I'd realize. He's walking by in literally a top gun and outfit, which is like not something that Tom and the actual Tom Cruise would do, but your reality stopped for a minute when you saw it. Right, and they came and took some photos with us. Could have been nicer. Maybe it's like a make-a-wish thing. Maybe, you know, Jerry Jones is paying him.

A million dollars to go to a party. The real Tom Cruise wouldn't do that for us. Yeah, please dress up. So he would. Two things. I left it purposely vague on social to see, you know, how people react to it. They don't know whether if we think he's the real Tom Cruise or not. Let's see what the response are.

Second, he is wearing one of his characters' outfits from Maverick. And right now there's a very contentious labor issue going on with the actors. Tom Cruise is maybe the most famous actor and is a kind of a spokesman. if the real Tom Cruise knew that there was a fake Tom Cruise dressing as one of his movie characters he might have him well that's I would not mess with Tom Cruise

a powerful guy so I hope he I mean he's handing out business cards and trying to yeah he's not trying to you can actually he's got a whole media kit he's got a lot going on any other thoughts that was great talking to the sham god though whenever you talk to these guys that have become

a part of the show. A very nice gentleman. We actually did another, you know, 20 minutes on W chopping it up, his history with Oliver Stone. Told us some Oliver Stone nuggets that were juicy. All right. So what have we learned today?

What have we learned? The Cowboys are going to be good. They're America's team. Yeah, Cowboys haters will... It could be great. We'll not like this episode. But if you made it this far, you just can't...

That means you just love us. So thank you. Yes, we thank you for that. We thank you Dallas Cowboys for allowing us to come by here and set up shop. Hopefully they'll have us back again in the future. Thank you to Eric, Randy, Parker, and Jay behind the scenes for making this thing go very smooth. Not behind the glass, though, just in a big hot tent with all of us. Yes.

Thank you to Brian Schottenheimer for dressing like Eminem in 1999. I appreciate his forever young. attitude. Thanks for Eric for standing with me in the shorts gang and showing off some sweet leg tattoos. They did not know. Oh, my God. Eric, surprises.

They never cease. Greg, thank you for wearing the longer shorts. Mark, thank you for wearing the Panama Jack hat out on the field. Yes. You looked very slick. And maybe perhaps we can get a photo of that for the audience.

I will source one. Okay. Very good. Immediately ASAP. Anything else? From me? I'm good. All right.

We got a long ride back down to L.A. Thank you to everybody for listening. We'll be back Wednesday from SoFi Stadium or the, I'm thinking SoFi Stadium because I'm going to see Taylor Swift. You got to, you got to catch a bird. You got to go. I got to catch a bird only I don't got a bird. So I got to hit the road.

But thank you to everybody until Wednesday. You know what you got to do. Heath a call. Cowboys, 11 and 6. 12, 12, 12 wins. What kind of run do we make? What happened? One playoff loss.

This is an I-heart podcast.