NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Cowboys-Chargers MNF Recap

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

In a virtual room full of heroes - Nick Shook and Jane Slater recap the Week 6 Monday Night Football matchup between the Cowboys and Chargers. They start by talking about the offensive play of the Cowboys (01:36), Nick loses his mind over the Chargers (07:30), and they have a conversation about the overall trust in Dak Prescott and his future with the Cowboys (15:45).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. But I've got to believe that Kellyn Moore is keeping the ball in Herbert Tamm. They fake the handoff. Everett wide open, touchdown L.A. The rookie Brandon Aubrey is good. That kid has been sensational. Two-for-two tonight. And that 39-yarder puts Dallas on top.

by three no sacks by the defense at all they've handled him no sacks at san francisco either and here it is right on cue parsons his first the cowboys first and what a time for it now third down and ten first sack of the night herbert gets rid of it and he's picked intercepted by the cowboys That's the tale of what happened on Monday night at SoFi Stadium as Dack Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys get a little bit of help from their defense when they needed it most. Hang on for a 20 to 17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, a game that was fraught with errors on both sides. But the Cowboys score a much needed win coming off of that blowout loss last week to the San Francisco 49ers. I'm Nick Shook here with the Monday night recap along with pleasure to be joined by Jane Slater. And Jane, I'll tell you what, it wasn't the prettiest game.

But the Cowboys, they held on. They were able to get the job done. Defense, once again, bailing them out here, Nick. You know, at some point we're going to talk about what happened with the Cowboys heading into the half. It didn't need to be this hard. That sort has been the story for the Cowboys this year. It's been easy for them to beat up on some of the lesser teams.

Of course, they didn't catch the break with the 49ers last week. And then we now learned that the 49ers are chilling with injuries, some of their key players, Christian McCaffrey, namely one of them. But here are the Cowboys coming to town. They're facing Kellyn Moore in the Chargers, which if anyone followed the saga last year, the biggest indictment of Kellyn Moore

was he wasn't running the ball enough. This was a guy that wanted to light up the scoreboard. Tonight we didn't really see either team lighting up the scoreboard, did we, Nick? But what we did see was Cowboys, as you said, sort of got through this one, fraught with eras, fraught with penalties,

some questionable coaching decisions. But for me, it was good to see them finally get the ball to C.D. Lamb after last week, him expressing his frustration. We saw it on the sidelines. We heard about Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott talking to him about his body language, the need to lead, the understanding that they need to get him the ball. By the way, that paid off seven receptions for 117 yards. He was averaging 16.7 in this one.

But also more important, Brennan Cooks, his name has been on. a bit of a milk carton here lately, haven't really seen him involved. They finally got him here late involved in the game. And then, of course, the defense finally stepping up. They didn't have much of a pass rush all night. But Micah Parsons with the big one that helped seal this one off. Yeah, you know, it was funny. Early in that game, it felt like CD Lamb was the only guy on the field for the Cowboys, at least when it concerned Dak Prescott where he was going to throw the football. It was just, all right, we're throwing a CD here. We're throwing a CD over the middle. He's on the sideline. Nobody else exists. Of course, Michael

Gallup didn't really help him out at all with the lack of playmaking ability. ability, you know, with contested catches or just not jumping for the ball when it was placed in a perfect spot. Whatever it was, they were able to rely on CD Lamb until Brandon Cooks got involved with that goal line touchdown. Nice little mesh concept where he runs through the defense, gets some natural picks and catches his first touchdown pass as a cowboy. You know, this offense overall, though, you talked about the fact that Callan Moore didn't like to run the ball that much. Well, Tony Pollard didn't necessarily get going either. When I talk about how ugly this game was. There wasn't exactly a ton of success in the ground for either team, but you want to

go back to that revenge element. Dan Quinn has Kellan Moore's number right now. He had his number throughout the night. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, who's going to know an offensive coordinator that you're facing? The defensive coordinator that went against you in practice for years, that's who's going to know. And he knew for sure there was a play, fourth and one, charges deep in the Cowboys red zone where Kellyn Moore dials up a rollout to the short side of the field to the right gives him two options to throw to a shallow crosser and a little bit deeper of a crosser. And then Keenan Allen going across the field, that would have been a prayer. Based on how the Cowboys were getting after Justin Herbert all night, that would have been a prayer for him to

stop and make that throw. And of course, Keenan Allen was double covered. Dron Bland, who's having a fantastic season, steps in to make that deflection and force the turnover on downs. But it is nice to see that Cowboys offense not just rely on CD Lamb, especially in the second half. You know what's stood out to me the most, though, Jane, was the fact that deck Prescott, who I'm sure, as you know, makes one or two, too many hero plays from time to time, trust himself a little bit too much to get out of some sticky situations. That actually paid off for him in this game because he did find Tony Pollard with a nice little dump off over the middle under duress, a 60-yard gain that quickly flipped the script in favor of

the Cowboys, set them up for that touchdown and really took a tie game and put the Cowboys in a bit of leverage in that fourth quarter. That was an incredible play. And it was one that could have gone awry. You know, it was, it was Dak Prescott trying to extend that play, extend that drive. And as you said, Pollard was able to, I don't know how he did it, but grab that ball and put that in the end zone or get it, get it close to there with the 60 yards. So love seeing that from him. But again, I think that there were a lot of other curious instances. I mean, we talked about that one connection. What was it, a Tony Pollard when it was a little bit overthrown there, where was that one? Yeah, well, yeah, the,

wide open Pollard, who couldn't grab it. They ended up settling for the 39-yard field goal. It looked like Dak just kind of overthrew that one. We saw that last week with Dak. Sometimes the ball placement from DAC has been interesting. Troy Aitman even weighing in on a little bit in the broadcast talking about, you know, they've talked so much. And I can attest to this covering that team this year, so much about the timing with the

receivers, but the timing has still felt like it's not exactly there, Nick. Are you seeing that when you're watching some of these games? I actually felt like some of his throws tonight were pinpoint and they just, you know, we talked about the Michael Gallup thing where he just wasn't making the play. But yeah, it is hit or miss with them. That throw specifically you were mentioning outside shoulder to a place where only his guy can go get it, but his guy's got to be, you know, superhuman to make that catch. You're dealing with Tony Pollard.

He's not exactly a six foot four pass catcher over there. It was going to make an acrobatic catch like that, especially a difficult one over the shoulder. So it was kind of a mixed bag from deck. That's kind of how a season's been. I mean, there's been a couple games where I've been like, hey, he's gone out and actually won them this game. There's been some other games where he's done enough to help them win.

The defense has done a really good job in some of those contests. And tonight, though, he stepped up when he needed to. It wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I felt, you know, better about it. It's a nice step in the right direction for the Cowboys. And concerning DAC and an offense that, you know, they improved a receiver in the offseason, right? Because they knew that all they had last year was Citi. And yet they also lost Ezekiel Elliott and the running game, not as much of an element.

They're still trying to figure it out, I think, a little bit with Mike McCarthy now back in charge of calling the plays. But, Jane, I got to go to the other side of the field here. I got to go to the Chargers because, look, as you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, as you can see, I'm a bald man. I'm a bald man because my hairline betrayed me at a premature time in my early 20s. I am going to go progressively balder if I have to watch the Chargers perform the way they did, starting with Justin Herbert, who was just not dialed in. You want to talk about being a little bit off? That was Justin Herbert tonight. Whether he was under pressure or whether he had time to throw,

just routinely missing guys that are open. Keenan Allen wide open down the sideline in a must-have situation misses him. He missed him three times, I think, in this game. And he wasn't the only guy that he missed. And of course, you know, he ends with the interception in which he was under pressure. But probably one of Justin Herbert's worst performances of his career. And considering that Mike Williams is no longer with this team because of his ACL injury, it's pretty concerning when you look ahead because they have no run game to speak of.

I mean, when Austin Neckler is on the field in the past, their offense has been a little bit better. But tonight he was on the field and it didn't matter. And that's a credit to the Cowboys defense, but it's also highly concerning for a Chargers offense that's going to have to go win them some football games, especially if you're going to overcome some of the aggressive decisions made by Brandon Staley, which we didn't get a ton of those tonight, but we've seen how that's put them in bad spots in the past. Well, and what's interesting is, you know, this game started off. It was defense. they allow, it's three and out, you know, Cowboys opening drive.

Then you've got the first drive, you get the touchdown, set up the 26-yard return. And you're thinking to yourself, man, the chargers are coming out and establishing themselves early. But then it seemed like the Cowboys had an answer for them. They sort of started to settle in. But as much as you are concerned about, you know, Justin Herbert and his play, I'm sorry. I still am just not sold on this Cowboys team. I'm like, and I always feel like I'm kind of watching something different than some of the people that are obviously from hearing cowboy fans. And when I talk to people that I surround myself with, but they still don't give me a lot of confidence.

I mean, we're talking about this is probably one of Justin Herbert's worst games. They were able to overcome the fact that, I mean, the pass rush you want to talk about may not have come alive for the Cowboys until when they needed at the end of this game. You had a pass rush from the Chargers. They had five sacks in this one. I still have concerns about this Cowboys offensive line about some of their untimely penalties. The fact that they keep forcing this ball to Michael Gallup, which we have seen. And I don't know what they're going to do with Michael Gallup, Nick. I'm a huge Michael Gallup van.

I've been on the record of saying that. But ever since he got injured, and then he was dealing with some stuff off the field from a personal standpoint, it just feels like, and we were told he was springy at can't. It feels like he's lost his step a little bit. And so, again, like, even though they won this game against the Chargers, it was hard fought. They, you know, it was three different ties. And, you know, they were able to overcome some bonehead decisions by their coach. I still just don't know what to make of this team. And I don't know what to make this division, right?

Because we just saw the Eagles get beat by the Jets yesterday. So I do think that's what's going to be interesting. But I think more importantly for the Cowboys, whether this was an ugly game or not, it was a win. And they needed that win after the law. the 49ers last week ahead of this buy because when they come off the buy neck they've got to go face the eagles on the road yeah it doesn't get any easier for them that's kind of the NFL in a nutshell that's after the Rams game let me walk you back you've got Rams X at home then you know what don't don't discount the Rams Matthew Stafford's playing some really good football right now and I know that they don't have as much talent as some of the other teams the NFL but they're a tough out on a weekly basis at least to this point but you know that's we're it's week six it was a weird week in the NFL we get one or two of these weeks in the first half of every season And it just decided to be week six this year. Like I said we were on the year on the NFL podcast last night. And I was like, you know, we're pretty close to closing that parody circle,

that graphic that comes out when every team's beaten a team that's beaten a team and goes all the way around the circle just because of games like this. There's no more undefeated teams, you know, there are randomly competitive teams like the Cardinals. And then there's teams like the Cowboys who you think on paper should be better. And yet they have not established themselves, you know, at a level of consistency that you expect from a team that has to face the defending NFC champions in their own division. and that game coming up very quickly, as you just said, you know, I'm not sure where my concerns lie

with them, though. I think you make a great point about Michael Gallup and the fact that, you know, he does look like he lost his step. I mean, he does look like he's just not the same guy he was. And I was one of the biggest fans right there next to you of him in previous years and was really bummed when he did get injured. And he just, you know, sometimes those injuries just take a toll. It takes a while for somebody to find their footing again. Sometimes they never do, which would be a very big disappointment, you know, regarding the arc of his career. But I don't think that that is going to be something that necessarily sinks them. It's more about them playing, you know, complementary football. Some games has been the defense, some games that's

been the offense. That defense is talented. I mean, they got a ton of studs on that side of the ball. Even with the seasons, Stefan Gilmore comes up with the game ceiling interception tonight. It's just that I guess we can sit back and say, well, it's only week six. And as long as you stack a win here and another one here and maybe you take a tough loss here, you stay in the hunt, you at least afford yourself the time to start to figure it out. I feel like that's what a Cowboys team is going to be under Mike McCarthy is one that hopefully peaks later rather than earlier. It's just a question of where does it come from? Because right now it's hit or miss depending on the week. I will give them some credit though, Jane. I know that it took them

forever to get their first sack of the night. They did make a difference. You know, when it came to the pass rush, they were racking up pressures. They just weren't getting home. And, you know, some credit is due to Justin Herbert for being able to evade that or get the ball out when, you know, there's no other option, but either to take a sack or throw the ball into the abyss, he's still able to get it out from time to time. So I, you know, they, they impacted the game. It just didn't show up from a statistical standpoint. Of course, you know, naturally, when everybody's focusing on how Micah Parsons has one tackle and hasn't done anything, he does get the sack. That's, you know, that's just how I think football goes sometimes. So I'm right there with you. I am concerned. I'm not sold. I think that's what

I would like to pitch this as is I'm not sold on them yet. I just, I'm still looking for a decisive win from them against it. I get an opponent that I consider is a legitimate postseason team. Because in Dallas, it's not enough to have a 12 and 5 season. You need to go deep in the postseason, particularly because of the way the postseason has gone the last two years. And I think for a lot of people in Dallas, a lot of people are selling the Cowboys, not buying them.

Because in order to get to your ultimate goal, which is hoisting up the Lombardi, you're going to have to get through the 49ers likely. and it felt like you were completely their performance was so underwhelming that you found yourself wondering if some of these other games were outliers. But if you think about it, they faced the Jets right after Aaron Rogers' injury. So Zach Wilson likely seeing Ghost that week. That was, I think that was unexpected for Zach, and I think they were still filling themselves out in that one.

I mean, I think we already know what level of play the Patriots are doing this year, the Giants. Who else have they played so far? They got Giants, Jets, the Cardinals, which is a shocking loss, but it's because they got gashed on the ground. But the Cardinals, I think, are better than a lot of this gave them credit for this offseason.

They're scrappy, that's for sure. And so, again, I think the Rams is going to be very interesting because Jerry Jones was beside himself a couple of years ago when Jason Garrett lost on the road to the Rams and the postseason. And it was then I was told that Jerry Jones was ready to move on from Garrett, and they gave him one more year. And then we know how that went. So I think if they were to lose by a large margin to the Rams ahead of the Eagles,

this would be very, very interesting in Dallas. That's why they absolutely needed that win against the Chargers on the road tonight, because you kind of find yourself going, was Kellyn Moore the one we let get away? He always had this offense in the top five. And I mean, now you're looking at the middle of the pack offense, which is what essentially Mike McCarthy sent the table for heading into this season. He wanted an above average defense and he wanted somewhere in the middle offense. And that's what you've gotten.

It just hasn't felt like explosive games. It feels like everything is harder. And then the question I have for you, Nick, and this is why I was looking forward to doing the show with you after, I think some of us are wondering, you say publicly you trust your quarterback. If you trust your quarterback and you're going into the half, and you've got eight seconds left, they go ahead and they stop the clock,

assuming that with your two timeouts, you're going to do something about it. Mike says, I don't want it, and then they settle for a field goal. Why would you do that? When you've got a franchise quarterback, he's been in Dallas for eight years. So we've had two instances of this happening in the last 24 hours. The other one being Brian Daibel letting the clock run down to 30 seconds last night, calling a timeout when there was 44 seconds when he could have called a timeout, and then it cost them on the goal line when Tyrod Taylor,

checks do a run they don't get it they run out of time but it's funny that you mention this because um i had a notable former NFL quarterback sliding to my DMs the other day i still haven't replied to him i'm prepared to i you left you left did you leave him on red i i you know unintentionally i left him on red yes i actually what a flex i crafted a serious response i just did not have time to send it off over the weekend but he made the argument it was related to kirk cousins because i had written something about kirk cousins and the potential of the Vikings trading him because they're just not that good of a football team. He's an expiring year. All that. And he immediately jumped to the deck comparison. And I was like, oh, I mean,

I've heard this before. And basically what he said was, you know, Kirk and Dak are the same guy, which they're totally different quarterbacks, but it's the same ceiling, which is that they can win you games, but they're not going to win you important games. They're not going to win you championships. They might help you win a division title if everything around them is good, but they're never going to elevate the team to that elite level. And I don't necessarily, disagree. And I think that you may see a little bit of that with a decision like this tonight. And you know, I think about the money and everything else and that's fine and an extension that could be coming up. Maybe not. I'm not sold on deck. I've really never been sold. I see the potential

and I don't think it's ever going to be reached for a number of different reasons. But in this instance tonight, what have we known that he's been prone to do from time to time? Take risks that end up, you know, producing turnovers. And in that instance, you want to make sure that you have an opportunity to get some points on the board instead of letting him take a risk. But my biggest issue in that sequence was the fact that they played it so conservatively, they never even gave themselves a shot at the end zone. And then he lets the clock run down. But the even more concerning and conflicting of all of it was ahead of that.

Remember, they went for it on fourth and one. That's when they tried to do the little tush push and it didn't work for them. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody needs to stop being the Eagles, by the way. You're not the Eagles. I think everyone's got that play in their playbook now. you know it's going to happen. But yeah, I thought that was interesting.

They go for it on fourth and one. They trust DAC there. They don't trust him again right before you're heading in the half. And the second half didn't have to be so hard. I mean, we were talking earlier that third quarter, the fact they got in only five plays and they had negative yards to finish it. I mean, the Chargers absolutely controlled the time of possession in the third quarter. Again, it just, sometimes this offense just feels so stagnant to me.

It feels very conservative to me. That's why I love to see Dak. You don't want to see Dak putting his body on the line every time, but it was nice to see him rush there and get that, what was it, 18-yard touchdown at one point. Seeing him use his legs, that's what made him so great his rookie season. It's almost like they sort of started putting him in bubble wrap. And I get it after the injury that he had against the Giants a couple of years ago. It was gruesome.

It was awful to watch. I knew it was a tough recovery. And then, of course, he had a couple of other injuries after that. but it was nice to see him sort of use his legs because I think that's what makes him special at times because he is an athletic quarterback. And I just feel like maybe they've handcuffed him a little bit this year. Yeah, I mean, first rushing touchdown since week eight of 2022. You know, Jane, here's a fun stat from NFL research, the fine folks over there.

The Cowboys are now 21 and four when DAC scores a rushing touchdown, which proves the point that you just made. I mean, and what it really, I think, speaks to is the way McCarthy has approached this team for, I don't know, maybe the last two, maybe three, seasons coaching not to lose instead of coaching to win and it's it's very you know you see it often the flip side of that coin is brand's daily going for it in situations of which you're like why are you going for it on fourth down on your own 25 and they're like well the analytics say it and then you go to next gen stats and it's like actually next gen stats is that because of the how it could affect the game it is a better decision to go for it because you can end it effectively right there even if you know logic says otherwise so he has an impressive fourth down and go for it number

I think I saw during the broadcast. I don't have it at the top of my head, but I think he is Mr. Fourth Down guy. Oh, he is. He defines analytics-driven fourth-down decisions. That guy will go for it quicker than anybody else in the NFL, which may end up costing him his job if they don't turn things.

I mean, it's not like they're a losing team right now, but it's not looking too good. But back to your point about that, I just think that that's the way McCarthy kind of coaches. I even felt like he was like that in Green Bay for a stretch, which kind of led to his departure from there. And that's probably just what you're going to get. You're going to get him also burning timeouts.

at weird times and going into the fourth quarter of a tie game with one timeout left, which he lucked out that did not burn him tonight, but in some instances it will. So I think that's something that you have to accept. But what's funny to me that came to mind earlier when you were talking about the feeling around this team, I'm in Cleveland where everybody's, you know, hopes and dreams rest on the Browns. Like I live within the city limits. My neighbor right behind me is a diehard Browns fan.

And everybody wants to talk about the Browns at the gym, anywhere, and it's all about the next game. And let me tell you, the lead up the last week's game was depressing. And when they won, everybody here is on cloud nine. It's funny to me that the whole feeling around an entire season and team that an area identifies so deeply with can rest on the most recent result and why this win was so important, like you said, but it just makes me laugh that at the same time, there's more people selling than buying. There's more people that are skeptical than not. The expectations are different. I understand the drought of not getting past the divisional round of the playoffs. And look, that's got to be painful.

But at the same time, it's just so, I mean, people care about the NFL so much. It just makes me laugh to think, man, people really are uptight about a Cowboys team that just went and got a gritty win. Well, in the morning after, no matter how ugly the win is, a W makes all the difference. Because if they had actually lost this game, I think our narrative about DAC would be a little different. our narrative about the play calling will be a little bit different. But it's sort of like putting a little bit of a lipstick on a pig when they win the game because I think we would be having a very different conversation. Micah Parsons didn't have that sack and they blew their three-point lead there at the end.

I just, you know, going back to what you're saying about DAC, sometimes I'm a huge DAC fan. Off the field, incredible guy. But when I'm beginning to look at his body of work, his body language last week, against the 49ers, it just for whatever reason feels like things have been hard. And granted, he's been through so many different offensive court. I mean, we're talking Scott Linehan, Wade Wilson, John Kittner, Doug Nussmeyer, all of this, now Schottenheimer, all these guys in his ear, Scott Tolzine, in his ear, you know,

he works in the off-season on footwork. I know he's got a lot of messaging coming in. And when you're a player for the Dallas Cowboys, you also see it, read it, you tell everybody you don't pay attention to it. you compartmentalize. I don't believe that for a second. But it is interesting to me that if you looked at his career, getting his team to the postseason, the way that he has, the way that he typically does play, if he was playing for the Panthers, would that be under the same level of scrutiny about who he is as a quarterback and as a player if he was playing for the Panthers?

No, absolutely not. And I also think that his path to this position makes a difference because nobody, when he came out of Mississippi State, nobody was like, yeah, Dakota Rain, Rain, Prescott. He's going to be the future of the Cowboys. And then he was. And then he got the money. Remember the conversation around his contract extension at the time, $40 million a year, you out of your mind? Well, that's what he got.

I mean, you had to take a franchise tag for it, but that's what he got. He's always been fighting against that, I think. And he would do himself a whole lot of good if he wouldn't want a Super Bowl, but he hasn't yet. And because he plays with the Cowboys, he is constantly going to be under that microscope. That's what you get when you wear.

I mean, I don't have to tell you, you know this, when you wear the star on your helmet, but that's what you get. It's unfortunate, it but that's just the reality of the situation well and i think a lot of people that are dac fans dac stands they are particularly sensitive to the comparisons between him and kirk cousins and i get that oh i i hit a nerve unintentionally hit a nerve but if you look at he and kirk cousins they are a little similar lately you know uh and even just their their willingness to bet on

themselves. I mean, there is this sort of mentality that is very similar. They're also both very well liked in their locker room ad nauseum, but it's their inability to win some of those big games and their inability to win and extend in the postseason that I do think sort of puts DAC in that Kirk Cousin's tier. And again, I would argue that if he was playing for another team, just as I was saying his career wouldn't be as scrutinized, I don't think that you would be comparing him. I don't know why the Kirk Cousins thing is such a knock. I mean, I think Kirk Cousins has actually done a pretty good job there in Minnesota and throughout his career. But for whatever reasons, people love to, to bag on Kirk. But I do wonder that

if Dak was playing somewhere like the Browns or the Panthers and he had put up the same numbers and their resume, if there would be so much scrutiny about his play good or bad. From a national perspective. Just visualize it, putting his, put a different jersey on him. Yeah. From a national perspective, especially with the Panthers now, I think locally, if he was with the team like the Browns or the Steelers. Yeah, they'd be all over him, just like they're all over Deshawn Watson in this town right now. But from a national perspective, no. And that's just the price you pay for being the Cowboys, because the Cowboys generate, you know,

the most clicks, the most views. That's just who they are. They got a massive fan base that fills SoFi Stadium when the Chargers play because they apparently have more Cowboys fans in the area, which does not surprise me, than Chargers fans in the Los Angeles area. So you're right. And perhaps it's a bit unfair, but that's also kind of. of what his football fate has led him to.

And because he had success early, that's just the path that's been set forth for him and he's just had to travel that. It's just that I don't know. And we're getting way ahead of it here. And I admit that. But I don't know what happens a year from now, two years from now.

Like it could look vastly different. The same pressure will be applied to the next quarterback that plays with the Cowboys without a doubt. And, you know, sometimes, you know, I find myself for cowboy fans that say, you know, even like after the 49ers game, A lot of people are ready to move on from Dak Prescott. My whole argument is what else are you going to go get?

What do you want? And I don't know if Trey Lance is mature enough. I don't know him that well personally, but I don't know if he has the type of shoulders, you know, the broad shoulders that you have to have to wear the star on your helmet and the scrutiny that comes with it. You know, Dak, even as he came in as sort of a bright-eyed bushy-tilled rookie, he felt mature beyond his years.

And he's talked about this, you know, as it relates to his mother. and what he went through growing up. He just always felt like he was ready to step into that opportunity and he could handle it. I don't know if Trey is. Now, granted, Trey took a lot of hits in San Francisco and the media scrutiny leading up to the draft. So there are elements to him that he has, he understands that. But think how much we were talking about a third string quarterback getting traded to Dallas. Like, it's always a big deal.

And so, and then the argument of, well, who would want DAC, I bet you Sean Payton would pick up the phone. I bet Sean Peyton would love a Dak Prescott right now. I mean, there's going to be a team that's going to be in the market for Dak Prescott, but just show me what other quarterback you want to bring to Dallas. And my argument is you can't cut him. It's going to hit you too much in the books. But I just, I'm like you, I've got questions marks about what it's going to look like moving forward. And I just hope that his career doesn't ultimately end the way that totally. Tony Romos did, which was started to feel like he couldn't win the big games.

The reason why DAC was so energizing for the locker room is when Romo felt like he was more often losing games for you, Dak gave you the sense that he was going to win more of those games for you in the fourth quarter. But here lately, I don't know if those of us that cover this team, fans have as much trust as we did in DAC early on his careers. And I don't know if that's DAC. I don't know if that's his receivers. I don't know if it's the coaching, quite frankly. And so I think that's the hard part. It's like, it's always, what is it? Last year, I would pin a lot of the blame on the personnel. I don't think he had enough options once they traded away Amari Cooper for peanuts, amounting in the form of fifth

round picks. He didn't really have anybody to go to. It was a glaring need. I don't think that's necessarily the issue now. And I think it goes back to what we kind of discussed earlier, which is that since the injury and since everything else, you know, what energized him and the Cowboys when he first came in was his ability to do both, to throw and to run, and he's not running that much. He scores a touchdown tonight, key touchdown for them early in this game. But are you going to see that on a week-to-week basis? Probably not. And that goes back to the conservative coaching style, right? So because you want to preserve your quarterback above all. You don't want to be in a position where you have to go to, you know, somebody like a Tray Lance

in a big spot and or, you know, like they were last year when they had to go to Cooper Rush for a little bit. You don't want to be in that situation. Nobody does. That's why you go pay a starting quarterback. So there's a little bit of both there, I think. But again, I think we go back to the ceiling. And it feels like a lot like when the Chargers fired Marty Schottenheimer after they went 14 and 2. They were just like, well, you can't win the big one. And then they took a huge step back with North Turner over the course of that tenure. It's, and it's, the grass is always green on the other side. But is it actually that green? Like, is the next option that good? I don't know. And I think again, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves because there is so much left in

this season to play. Okay, like they can rattle off a number of wins here. Like if you look at their schedule, if you look at their schedule, if you look at their schedule, I know, it's tough. I see a soft spot. I see Giants, Panthers and commanders will be tough because I think their defense will show up for that one. And then it gets really tough throughout the rest of it.

So you're going to have to rattle off some wins. You're going to have to get a win over the Eagles. And now I see. On the road. I understand. I understand now why you're looking ahead and thinking, oh, man, catastrophe could be setting in. I mean, if you take it in a week-to-week basis, I mean, look, not to take it back to Cleveland, but the Browns did just beat the 49ers with PJ Walker.

Okay, crazy things do happen. You can't keep expecting your defense to bail you out. And I think that's my concern about Dallas is when they start playing some of these higher-scoring offenses, you can't keep expecting your defense to bill you out. You've got to start putting more points on the board. And I think that's to me the one thing that's standing out about this DAC team is you really don't know what you're getting week to week. You know what's funny is we spend this time talking about

how DAC is being scrutinized so much and how so much of it revolves around him and as the most important position in all of sports, it will naturally with one of the most watched teams in the world. But then you think about how Justin Herbert had a bad night tonight and how the only people that are going to talk about that are like the C block of a morning show and the football heads on Twitter because it's the Chargers.

Like if you want to pick a pairing where this guy has room for error, It's the Chargers, a team that can't ever play a normal game. And this was not a normal game by any stretch of the imagination. And they're arguably in a worse situation if you think about it in terms of talent and what they have on both sides of the field and what their season looks like. But again, what's going to dominate the conversation is the team that you know quite well, the Dallas Cowboys? Well, and Stephen A. Smith, of course, was at the game.

So I'm sure that there's going to be lots of talk about. And his cowboy hat. In his cowboy hat. it's a bit people love to talk about it but i don't know if people are going to still feel i mean how do you think that doc is going to be talked about tomorrow after this game well because media discussions so often are driven by hate just to put it plainly uh there will be some worthwhile criticism of his play but again i you don't go win this game without him i mean some of the plays that he made in this game yeah he missed a couple throws right yeah but yeah he missed a couple

throws but he also found some guys and he was on target on time a number of times like i'm doing kuby index this year and i'm going to look at this game and think i don't know if i want to move him up but he's not going to move down and whereas jason herbert's going to move down off of performance like this so you have to be happy with those results even if they're not spectacular it's not going to be spectacular every week he's not going to throw for 350 every week but you're right it will be talk like that but i think what this game showed you is can you start getting brandon cooks more involved. I mean, I think a lot of us here in Dallas have been asking ourselves, he runs a 4-340. You went out and got a vertical deep threat. And I think at one point in the game,

and I don't know if this was still the case when the game ended, they only had one pass of over 20 yards. I mean, granted, the Chargers did a good job of isolating some of those big plays, but the Cowboys are afraid of the deep shots this year. Yes, they are. They are. I mean, they're taking some of them, but I just saw a recent report. My buddy Patrick Walker over at Dallas Cowboys.com wrote it. It was a fascinating article. Mike McCarthy, for the most part, it just avoided the middle of the field leading up to the 49ers game, just completely ignored the middle of the field. And so I just, I still, I've reached out to somebody and I've asked them, is some of this play calling lately, is it a concerted effort to eliminate some of the interceptions last year?

They didn't want to comment on that. It was sort of one of those, no, that's not. not the case, blah, blah, blah, but for all of us watching it, we can't help but ask that question. I think it's a fair question. Yeah. It's been a major talking point throughout the offseason and into the season, and it's affecting his play. I think that you're trying to protect your quarterback from making those mistakes again and trying to keep his confidence high. But at the same time, if you're actually going to maximize the potential of this offense, you do have to throw the ball down the field, especially when you have a guy like Brandon Cooks, who has not made, I mean, I looked at the stats tonight. He tied his single game high this year for

receptions with four and he set a new yardage mark at 34 that's not brandon cooks no matter where he's been he's made a difference he's been on a number of teams and he's made a difference on all of them and and he could do the same thing for this team but they got to figure it out so and he looked great in camp i mean i think all of us that were watching brandon and deck and camp that was the most solid connection on the field and tonight was really the first night that we've started to see them utilize him. And he stepped up in a big way in the second half for you. You have two incredible threat. Like C.D. Lamb, the fact that they weren't really going to him last week, that was confusing. And then you finally get him the ball this week and you see what he can do. It was a couple of weeks ago.

C.D. was frustrated then. And he just said, we were talking about the red zone woes. And he said, just get me the ball and I'm going to get it in. And he did in that game. And after last week, he said, get me the ball. Good things are going to happen. They did that today. good things were beginning to happen. So I just feel like there's times when Mike McCarthy, and again, that's why I keep going back to you, is this DAC checking out a certain place? Because there are certain situations too, Nick,

where if you're looking at the game, Dax had guys open, and it's like he's not seeing them. Yeah, that's what I was going to go to, is that I think he is hesitant to take the shot. Yeah. There was actually, there was a play I was messaging our fellow writer,

Kevin Patrick, during the game, where it resulted in a sack, and he had an option on the right, It was a wheel route. It was Jalen Tolbert. He was open, and he saw him, and he had a little hitch, a little pump fake. Like, I want to throw up, but I'm not sure I want to throw it because it's Jalen Tolbert, and I don't trust him, and now I'm sacked.

I don't want to take the risk. Not taking the risk, will burn you eventually. Eventually, he's going to have to. Plain and simple, he's going to have to. The thing that I, you know, because I hadn't really seen too much of Brock Purdy play this year, you know, when you're focused on one team, you're not watching some of these. other teams as much. Prock just looks so confident, decisive, and convicted under Center, watching him last week. And then you watch Dak, and it's like you're watching and process things in real time sometimes. That's why it's fascinating to me that beginning the season, I think he

was one of the quick, he had one of the quickest releases getting the balls out, like 2.3 seconds. It feels longer sometimes. Like watching Dak sometimes this year, it just feels like he's processing too much information. The only way I can liken this is do you play golf? Yes. Okay. I don't know about you, but if you go out in the golf course, I've had golf coaches, I've had friends, you go out in the golf course,

and everyone's giving you a piece of information. Yeah. And so I find that typically when I go up, I go up and get ready to you up, I'm going through like a four, five point checklist. And it's almost like you overthink it too much. And that's what it feels like watching DAC play is I feel like he's received so much information and he's getting so much messaging that it's like we're watching and process it in real time. That's the only way I can describe it sometimes when I'm watching him play. I had that happen

to me on a bachelor party last summer where I was hitting all my irons just shanking right, shanking right. And I had like three people giving me different tips. And I would do that part and it would fix it. And then somebody else would say something and it would screw it up again. And I just was like, I'm just going to be bad for the day. And maybe Dak just doesn't want to be bad for the day. Like he just wants to boil it down, but he knows that he's dealing with so many different things. I do think it's a fear of making a mistake. I mean, you hear, he seemed like somebody who probably pays attention to the offseason narrative more than maybe your average player. It's hard not to when you play for the Cowboys.

And last, off season, the whole thing was about how he led the league in interceptions. And that's not supposed to be what a franchise quarterback does. And he also probably, you know, knows the future is not entirely certain and deals with the pressure of needing to get to Cowboys to the next step. So all of that is probably in play. But again, the good thing is it's only week six. It's going to get tough. But it is. And you got the buy week, you know, a little vacation, little R&R, reset a little bit.

You're coming off a win. And Nick, you escape this game without an injuries. Yes. So that, I think, was the biggest thing for the Cowboys, because the guys that have been on the mend, you took so many hits to your secondary last week, losing Leighton Vandresh, I thought was going to be a big deal. I will say this. We've talked a lot about offense and deck tonight.

When they lost late in Vandrash last week, who is your quarterback on defense, he's calling the plays. I found myself deeply concerned about them this week, particularly going up against Austin Echler. But I think they did a pretty good job limiting the run. And that's been an area that sort of bit them. Now, I still do have concerns about the secondary. Chargers were really able to get things going with Palmer and Keenan Allen. So I think Cowboys have got to be a little bit more mindful of that movement. moving forward. We'll see if they even bring in some additional help there at corner.

I don't know what else is out there at this point. But I was encouraged at least by the play of the linebackers tonight in the absence of Leighton Vanderesh. Yeah, they even had a practice squad promotion played pretty well in this game. My biggest concern for the Cowboys outside of Dak, which I think he's just going to be up and down. That's who he is. It's never going to be somebody who I think is deserving of a place beyond like 10 in the QB index, but could get up there sometimes and we'll linger right beneath it for most of it. Um, Tyler Smith did not have a game that, and I got to go back and watch it again on the actual tape

and not on the broadcast, but there were a few moments where I'm like, what are you doing? This is a young guy, and I thought he played really well as a rookie for the most part, but, you know, you're going to the biweek, you might need to spend a little bit extra time

looking at this tape and fixing some things. But, yeah, defensively, I feel. Which is interesting because Tyler, Tyler, who's in his second year, they've moved him from, you know, left guard, he's been all over. He's been all over the place. Yeah.

I don't know if I watch. the tape as closely as you don't, Tyler Smith, so I'm going to have to go back and look at it because normally he's not the one we're talking about. Yeah. You know, we see some of these ridiculous holding penalties sometimes this offensive line at inopportune moments. But Tyler, I feel like, you know, that was such a heavily scrutinized draft pick for the Cowboys when they took him in the first round two years ago. And not only did he start last year, I mean, I remember right out of the gate, the Cowboys are getting ready to play the Bucks. And Tyrant Smith goes down. And you're like, wow, now we've got to ask this rookie to fill in for our all.

pro guy. He did a good job. And he did a great job. And then you got Terrence Dill back and you didn't need Tyrant Smith over there at right tackle. You're able to move Terrence back over there and move Tyron back over the left side. And it was the starting five that you've always been looking for. I got a little nervous for the Cowboys when Zach Martin was slow to get up this week.

You know, he got a little banged up last week. It's like, come on, you don't need any more help or any more guys getting hurt on the offensive line. So I thought the biggest thing for me taking away from this game was, One, like I said, seeing Brandon Cooks get going, seeing C.D. Lamb, get his confidence back, get utilized, but also more importantly, getting out of this one and not having the injuries. Yeah, and you talk about Zach Martin. That's the one guy more than anybody that you can trust in the offensive line. So you definitely need him to be on the field. Yeah, defensively, I don't feel too bad about them. I think that, you know, you talk about some of the, you know, personnel, the depth on the back end. I still feel good about this group, save for that strange game against the Cardinals when they couldn't stop a nosebleed on the ground.

round. They've been pretty solid throughout the season. So I think that's still going to be their strength as they figure out offensively. Going back to the charges real quick before we wrap this up, you talked about you were worried if they were going to run the ball well. Team net rushing total 53 yards. Austin Eckler averaging a incendiary 1.9 yards per pop. Really, they have a lot to fix there. And I'm not sure. You know, I watched Colts Titans, or sorry, Colts Jags this week. And the whole second half of the broadcast was, I don't know how you can perform when you're so one dimensional in offense because you have no running game. It felt like the same thing for the Chargers.

You know, that last drive, I looked at Herbert and you're sitting here thinking, how is the defense going to blow this? I'm sitting there thinking, how is he going to cover 70 yards? Like, he has no time to throw. So I think I'm pretty concerned about them at two and three, you know, taking a quick look ahead at their schedule, you know, while the Cowboys going to the Buy Week, the Chargers actually just came out of the buy week. It does not get easier for them.

They get the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead next week. So I'm not going to say chalk that one up as an L, but that's going to be real tough. then you get Chicago, which may or may not have Justin Fields at that time. And then you face the Jets who are going to be an even tougher challenge defensively than the Cowboys were tonight and the Lions after that. So it's going to be a tough month ahead. That's a garlic. Yeah, you better hope that they pull out one or two wins there or Brandon Staley Watch

is going to ramp up real quick. But I think that's going to do it for us. Jane, it's been a pleasure to do this recap with you. I thought we did a pretty good job. Well, we got big shoes to fill with the boys. But, you know, they're flying back from London. and so honored that Greg and the guys asked me to fill in and sorry for the Rossby Voice,

just getting back from ACL. It was a great music weekend. Oh, what bands did you see? Oh, 1975, Bob Moses, Odessa, Maggie Rogers. It was a good one. Oh, yeah. I'm sure you had to plan. Well, I think you're probably in line for some sleep now.

It's pretty late here. We might as well wrap this thing up. All right, well, for Jane Slater, I'm Nick Shook. This has been your Monday Night Recap. Thanks again to the boys as they travel back from London. They'll be back for the rest of the week. Until then, so long. This is an I-Heart podcast.