EP: Cowboys vs Giants Preview

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1:00It's time for the hard-hitting analysis you won't find anywhere else. Yeah, five victory! Cowboys win! This is love of a star. A star. Hello, I'm walking to the world star podcast week one. We are here, ladies and gentlemen, what a blessing. It is Friday, September 11th now just two days away from Sunday night football and your 2026 debut for the Dallas Cowboys in New York, taken on the Giants with the Super Bowl champion Brian Brottis. I'm Eric Chiafala. We are presented by the on-time experts and we have finally made it. How sweet it is. Brottis, great to see you, man. How you doing? Doing well, thank you. Yeah, we got a little appetizer the first couple of nights, you know, the way of the game. I don't think the game particularly played very well. Great job of the 49ers getting that thing done over the Rams and then unfortunately for the Patriots, they find a way to turn the ball over while they see out a quarterback,

2:01starting quarterback, Super Bowl winner sitting on the bench. So a couple of teams got to be super happy about the way things turned out. A couple of teams have to kind of look at themselves and say, you know, where did we go wrong in the summertime? And that's the thing that's so, you know, how you get off to the start. How do you, you know, are you the team that's, you know, winning that opening day, everything that you did up to that point, all the planning, all the meetings, all the walkthroughs, all the extra, hey, we're going to condition a little extra today. When you win, boy, all those things get reaffirmed. When you lose, it turns into, wow, you didn't allow enough days for travel. And oh, why is your quarterback throwing the ball late in the game when you have an opportunity to kick a field goal there and maybe make it over time? I understand. It's just, it's almost like you're going to 100 miles an hour than you hit the wall when you lose. And now you have to regroup. And, you know, we've seen some teams.

3:02It's very important. Very important to get off to a good start. And, you know, we've seen this one before. We've seen the Cowboys and the Giants. NBC seems to, this is like, this is old hat for them. You know, putting this game on a Sunday night, picking up the markets that the way they do. Dallas with a very, very quiet off season. When it comes to drama, the Giants making all these changes. So you're right. We're here and then let the games begin. Yeah, man, I'm fired up. This is fantastic. I love it. And we do have a little bit of news here. I know we're going to break down. We're going to look at the Cowboys offense versus this Giants defense. And then we'll flip it. And then we'll hit some mailbag questions. But speaking of the Cowboys offense, as we get things kicked off here, congratulations to Breven Span Ford. Titan 2, getting a little contract extension bump there. Three years, 18 million, just over 12 million guaranteed. This was an undrafted guy. And he was going to be set for a restricted free agent

4:04tender in the off season. Now he's under contract through 2029, just like Jake Ferguson is. I love the deal. I think this is a value deal. When it comes to the Cowboys kind of getting ahead of this a little bit before what I think is going to be the best season of Breven Span Ford's career to date. We know he's a dynamite blocker. I do think he's shown things throughout training camp to lead me to believe that he's developed as a route runner and a pass catcher. Such a big body. You would think in the red zone, he would be a guy that they would be able to go to a little bit more, especially for an offense that struggled in that area a little bit. But I saw enough in Oxnard, even a little bit here, with the Frisco stuff and training camp to think, OK, even as a pass catcher, I think he's going to be much more of a threat. And with the league going to more two and three tight end sets, you can't have enough of these guys. So I love the move with Span Ford. I think he's in for kind of a breakout season. And then the guy who did already have his breakout season, what a value this is for the Cowboys.

5:05One year, 6 million for Ryan Flanoi. What do you think about these deals, Brottis? Yeah, the Cowboys told us when they made the deals where they flipped some of these contracts, and flipped the switch with Blanz contract and Clark's contract, and going forward, where they created that cap space, everybody was kind of thinking like, oh, wait a minute, maybe there's something bigger on the horizon. Maybe there's something, oh, they're trying to line up for a trade. Oh, there's a lot of speculation that you just don't flip this space and not do anything with it. And talking to people in the organization about it, they were very adamant that they wanted fluidity. They wanted the ability to be able to create opportunities if those opportunities arose. It wasn't just about a Max Crosby or sweat or Brooks or somebody like that. It was like, OK, let's try and kind of take care of some deals along the way. The Span Ford deal, I think, is a very, very nice one

6:08for them. Span Ford has developed as a tie it in. He was a guy that really struggled initially, coming out of Minnesota with catching the football. He just did not let comfortable catch in the ball. Hand placement was poor. He's not going to separate in a lot of these routes. I mean, he's a big guy. It takes him a little time to get going. He's gotten better with his route running. But there's going to be a lot of these contested plays. And he's done a much better job of being able to handle contested catches and then come down with the football. So good deal for him. And then you get ahead of it with Ryan Flanoi. You try and give him a bump him up. You make him feel a little bit better about his situation. Kind of dangles the carrot to in front of him. All right, here's this deal. Let's try for the next deal. Let's keep working on this thing. And it gives the players some incentive to go out there and perform at a very high level. He will be a big part of what they do. Teams are going to be very interested in how to stop

7:08pickings. They're going to be interested in how to stop LAM. I don't know if teams can maybe stop all three. We saw a team the other day with the 49ers that did a great job against the Rams. Maybe there's some teams out there that know that have that kind of ability to completely shut you down that way. But overall, just a good job of the Cowboys using that fluidity, that flexibility to ink. A couple of guys that are going to be a big part of what they're going to do in 2026. Yeah, I love the moves. And congrats to the Cowboys on that. I mean, one year, six million. That's the extension for Flanoi, who I think is hopefully about to pop even more than what he did last year. So a great move all around for sure and making sure that he's going to be here for a little bit, not knowing what's going to happen in the future with pickings. Now, let's get to the nitty gritty, baby. We got a game breakdown to get to. I know you're fired up about this Cowboys offense versus Giants defense with Denard Wilson.

8:11Now, your defense of coordinator in New York with a lot of new faces on that defense. Yeah, a lot of new faces. And when you're dealing with the new coaching staff, it's very, very reminiscent of what the advantage that Dallas had last year going into the Philadelphia game, you know, with thick Van Gio in that group, we're having to, they were having to kind of figure out what film did they need to watch, but they watched, they were probably watching Arizona film for Clayton Adams. They were probably watching Seattle film. They were, you're watching all kinds of film in order to try and get an idea. And so now what you have to do with Denard Wilson is, they're the Cowboys are in the same boat. They're now the ones that are having to hunt the film. They're having to hunt the Tennessee film and the places that he'd been. And look at that coaching staff and kind of figure out, okay, where some of these influences going to fall. So, you're going to get a situation, I think, where, and John Oening and I were talking about this

9:13on here on Crown Global Media, on Crown Plus, that how does Denard Wilson, how does he shape up when you start to talk about these, and how is he going to play, how's he going to play his front? He comes from that that, if you look at Denard Wilson's background, like I said, it's the Baltimore principles of things. And this is why he gets the opportunity with Harball. He was with McDonald, with Mentor, with those guys. He's very aggressive. There are three, four base front. They play primarily. We see teams play this four, two, five, four downline and two linebackers, five secondary guys. But he plays the other way. He plays the two, four, five is what he does. So, you have the two downline, and then everybody else is kind of the stand up guy. It's a light box kind of a group.

10:13He likes to play the two high, the shells, things like that. Rotate, post snap, everything that everybody's trying to do nowadays. He's really, really trying to do the things that these young coaches are doing. You see all kinds of coverages with him, the two, the three, the six, man stuff as well. I think you're going to see a little bit more blitz in this game. The question is, do you really want to blitz Dak Prescott? That's the thing that you, with these receivers, is he going to have to blitz? But Dak Prescott has become one of the better quarterbacks in National Football League over the years when it's come to dealing with teams blitzing. So, there's a lot of things. He's going to, Wilson's going to, he's going to have to make his, he's going to make his secondary have to stress a little bit when it comes to it. If they play a lot of one-on-one coverage, you know, that's stress when you're having to do

11:14with lamb, pickens, and flanoi. And then even with, you know, with the Ferguson in there as well. So, he's going to, he's going to try and match you that way. He's going to try and be aggressive, but how aggressive? Dallas has got to think about, too, how they want to start this game. Do you want to try and start it where you're running the football? And then that makes him have to commit Tyler Nubin and the other safety, John Holland, do you have to commit them to playing in the run game? The Giants really believe that their linebacking course really the strength of their defense. When they look at Arvel Reese and when they look at Tremaine Emmons, they feel like, you know, they don't have the guys they used to have up front that those monsters that they had inside at the one and three techniques. You know, they got a little bit of nothing against DJ Reader or Shelby Harris, but that's just not the same group. But they feel really, really good about their linebackers.

12:16And can they play the run with the lighter box? Dallas wants to do the same thing. They want to play with the lighter box. Can Dallas make them? Can they run them out of that defense? And then all of a sudden, it turns into, well, their safety help is now, it's no longer too high shell. It's just a single high. And now they can't double everybody like they probably want to double everybody. So Dallas has got to make a determination in this game. Should we attack them through the air and then loosen up for the run? Or do we run them into submission and then make them play the safety and then open up things on the outside? It's a problem that the giants are going to have to deal with. Yeah, I mean, when I first think about this giant's defense, obviously no more dexter lorns. That's a beautiful thing, as you mentioned. But I mean, the past rush, the edge rushers, like you talk about their linebackers and their confident in Tremaine Edmonds and Arville Reese. And that's certainly an upgrade from what they've had. But I mean, when I look at the giants, I look at their edge rushers as being the strength of their defense.

13:17Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, Tibido as a rotational piece now. I mean, they got some dudes. And so that's the thing that I would be concerned about. If I'm Clayton Adams and Brian Shutton, I'm a right now, Gaiton and in particular, Steele with what we've seen from him throughout the summer. I wouldn't want to be leaving those guys on an island too long. I do think you should be able to run the football on these dudes. The giants were terrible at stopping the run last year. And I think on the interior of the defensive line with no more dexteral lorns, they're actually worse, though they are probably better at linebacker. So a little bit of give and take there. But I think you should be able to run the ball on them. And I would be trying to run right at these these edge rushers dudes to slow them down a little bit. But in the secondary, you mentioned Holland is a pretty solid safety. But for the most part, I think Pickens and Lamb and Flanoie and the rest of the passing game, these guys should be able to have their way as long as DAC is being protected. So I'd probably come out running the ball at them a little bit, get some push going,

14:18and then I think through the air, as long as it's burns is not screaming off the edge of Steele and Steele's on an island, then you should be good through the air and on the ground. But I'd be trying to pound at burns and Carter for a little while. Because those are the two guys that really scare you on this defense. Right? Yeah, no, the thing with burns is, he is probably their best pass rusher. The guy that they feel like is on the rise though is Abdul Carter. They really do like Abdul Carter. And just something to think about though, traditionally, if you go through last season, CalPoey's offensive tackles. You talk about being on an island, 75 to 78% of the time, they were one on one in blocking. And so they go into games thinking about,

15:18we're going to leave our tackles alone. We're going to see if they can hold up. And I think initially it's going to be that way. I think it's going to be like, okay, can Steele hold up, can't get and hold up. It's unfortunate the situation with Tyler Smith not being in there. That's a, because Tyler Smith, when the front of that pocket, with Smith and BB and Booker, you know, Dac has really been very, very good. It's been able to step up, move slide. You know, Williams, the back has been able to pick up some of the, if you go back and watch some of the big plays that Dallas made offensively last year. It was because Dac moving and then all of a sudden, you get a pick up by Williams that is able to kind of get Dac to get the ball out of there. So it's going to need to be some of the same stuff. You know, will they, will they, if things get really, really bad, now does it turn into, okay, now we have to put the tight ends over there.

16:20We have to put the back over there. We have to space this thing out to try and do. We'll see if they move, if they move these guys around too. We've seen some stuff where in the past that they've moved, a card are around and they've also moved burns around. And that was something we even saw on the preseason this year. If you watched the little tape that they had. Yeah, I mean, that, that's, to me, I would be making sure Javante Williams is in, in there to try and help out some of these guys. And Dac has shown, as you mentioned, the ability to navigate the pocket and all that kind of stuff is incredible. And if it's just one of your offensive linemen, if it's just steel that he kind of has to worry about, and guidance got things kind of handled, then Dac can usually deal with that kind of stuff. But for four quarters, if you're going to have a guidance and steel on an island with Carter and Burns, there's going to be times where there's almost no quarterback that can navigate that. Unless it's just a super quick passing situation. I was curious to get your thoughts on,

17:22I think it was, it was Graziano and Jeremy Fowler at ESPN. They were doing like some insider reports and they were talking about the Cowboys plan of being able to move pickens around a little bit more this year. I don't know how much we saw that in training camp. I know they were trying to keep some things close to the vest you're shaking your head. No, I didn't notice it when we were out there. You were obviously out there quite a bit longer than we were, but not something we have seen to this point, but it's something we've talked about that we hope in terms of this offense, evolving and elevating from what it did last year. Lamb being your versatile, moving around anywhere. He's always been that guy. It's a huge benefit to have that. But pickens, he can become a little bit more of that guy, where defenses don't know exactly where he's going to be every single play. Hopefully that's something that we see. I love seeing some of the ESPN NFL insider guys saying that that seems to be the plan right now. Hopefully it comes to fruition on Sunday night. Yeah, there were several practices and I was out there for 12 days. There were days where I did not notice the motions,

18:25nor the him playing in the slot and all that. There were practices that were after practices that they had. And maybe this is where we never saw these guys participate in training camp. I was not out there for the joint practices, so I can't address the RAMS scrimmage or the St. Scrimmage. I can't address what he was moving around, but they did have practices, walk through practices that the media was not privy to. And there have been practices at the star, where since they've been back, where practices we haven't been privy to as well. So if in fact, and we had the opportunity on 1053, the fan on the G-Bag Nation 2-7 every day, we had the opportunity to interview pickens. And he was talking about it. And in a way, he's like, I'm cool with moving around and all that stuff. And you're kind of thinking like, I don't know about that, bro. You seem like a guy that kind of likes to play and run your routes,

19:28the way you run your routes, the pace you run your routes. You're a different cat in a good way. You're not everybody's wide receiver, but when you play, you show you can do a lot of great things. So we'll see. It's just a matter of comfort. I think CDLAM is very comfortable moving. I think Ryan Flanoi is very comfortable moving. I think that even turpent, very comfortable moving, there's some receivers that just don't want to move. They like to play a certain side, or they like to stay stationary and right or left. I know that Marvin Harrison was that way for so many years with the Colts. You know, he just like to play on the right side. Don't move me around. Just let me run routes over here and I'll be just fine. So, you know, the thing that when you move guys around, he keeps you from getting double team. And what happened late in the year, that cloud coverage, the cover two, the cover six, you know, man on one side, zone on the other side, you know, the way that they were able to kind of take George out of games

20:33when it came to stop in his, you know, those devastating routes. He runs those in breaking routes where he catches the ball and then gets up the field. Teams at the end of the year were able to kind of take that away from him. And by moving him around, it's a lot harder to double somebody that's playing on the move than it is somebody that's playing stationary. All right, let's take a look at the Cowboys defense versus the giants offense. You're listening to the love of the star podcast, love of the stars and Odyssey podcast. You can find it on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Of course, we are presented by the on time experts, the official AC heating and plumbing partner of the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas stars and right here on Love of the Star. And all summer long, they've been offering first time customers a $59 AC tune up and professional cleaning. And we so got a few more weeks of the extreme North Texas heat here, ladies and gentlemen. So take advantage of your first time customer. Let the on time experts come in there, give you a complete AC tune up and

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22:33So let them go ahead and take care of you at the highest level of the on time experts. We love you. The on time experts. Welcome. Okay, brought us now we we flipped the script and we get to lay eyes for the first time on a Christian Parker Dallas Cowboys defense on the heels of the single worst defense. Any of us have ever witnessed last season. And we're all pretty optimistic that this is going to be quite a bit better and hopefully much much much better. And we'll see where Christian Parker can can take this thing. You know that he is keeping things close to the vest throughout training camp and the preseason. But now is the first time that he gets to unveil things. You talk about Denard Wilson and the Giants, maybe having a little bit of the element of surprise defensively for the Cowboys offense. Well, we certainly have that when it comes to the Cowboys defense versus this Giants offense, they're going to be trying to figure out, okay, what what is Christian Parker really trying to do here? We understand a couple of things.

23:34We know, but how much is he going to have up his sleeve with a with a totally revamped look on that side of the ball for this Cowboys defense. And I think it starts with making sure that you can contain Malik neighbors who looks like he's going to be playing and when one of the best receivers in all the football. And then I look at Jackson Dart and just his mobility. How much how much is he going to want to run around? And we know last year quarterbacks that that had some wheels. They were they were running on you. So being able to stop Dart with his legs and be able to contain Malik neighbors if he's healthy and feeling like himself, those are the those are the two elements of this offense that I feel like you got to have buttoned up defensively. Yeah, and I would throw Isaiah likely in there too. Oh, yeah, I would I would throw Isaiah lightly because I feel like to me that that they're going to want to make as many simple throws as they can for Jackson Dart. This offense we know with Matt Nagy.

24:36It's like I talked about earlier in the broadcast. You're in a situation where if you're Christian Parker now you're going back and looking at Kansas City film. You're going back and looking at Chicago bear film. You're just going back to try and get an idea of some some tells. What does what does Matt naggy? You know, I think we're going to see things. I think you're going to see they want to play. They really do want to play Jackson Dart under center more. I could be difficult because if you watch Jackson Dart throw, it's generally Jackson Dart likes to throw the ball down feel, but he likes to throw it to the receivers going away. He likes to try and throw it into space. He's not very comfortable when it comes to the contested throws. He wants those receivers to be breaking away from him so he can make those throws. It goes back to with likely and then I'll get into neighbors because I have some thoughts

25:38about neighbors. He's come out in the media and either he's there's a term called play impossible where you're not like, hey, I got to watch myself. I got to think about myself. I got to think about long term. That's the kind of talk he's talking right now. He's not talking like a guy that's like, yeah, I'm going to ready to jump in there and all that. I don't know. Neighbors, he might be trying to fool us. Talking to people that know the Giants very, very well, seemed to Giants practice stuff. They say neighbors just looked really good. They've said he was wearing a red jersey. They took the red jersey off. The practices that they saw. But also people within the Giants organization will tell you, listen, the first game might not be neighbors best game. Maybe week five, week six, week eight. That's when neighbors can start to get back. You remember last year what he did at the Cowboys in week two in that game where Russell Wilson just went off.

26:39That's the kind of thing you need to worry about. But I think that neighbors likely dart running the ball. I'm going to throw another one in there that we need to kind of, they really do like Malachi fields from Notre Dame. He's a six four, you know, a six four wide receiver. They talk about him as like being a rookie, but being beyond his years. And yeah, I heard some of the Plexico Burris. They throw like, it reminds us of Plexico Burris from back in the day. Six, yeah, six four, you know, six four kind of guy. You know, and so that's where that's where the that comparison, you know, not the fastest guy, the quickest guy, but down in the red zone, there was a game when they played in the preseason. One thing Harbaugh does, he was playing his starters pretty much that first preseason game against the Vikings. And you saw a field like see me saw a dart, you know, get out of the pocket, run to his left,

27:42corner front pile on of the in zone Malachi fields goes up. Ball looks like he's trying, dart looks like he's trying to throw it away. And I'll send the six four just extends and then there's a catch, both feet down and it's a touchdown. And they really do like what they've seen from him. And so and they talk about Odell Beckham. They say, Odell Beckham still knows how to separate. Odell Beckham still knows how to catch the football. Odell Beckham can still be a problem for you. So, you know, that's that's kind of what you're up against with the skill, the skill guys. And I think I said, I throw likely in there because it just seems like that they want to make as many easy throws. They just don't think that Jackson Dart is the surveyor of the field and one, two, three, re, boom, get rid of the ball guy. He is very much a, that's my guy throw him the ball. And you see a lot of times where, you know, this is where the Cowboys linebackers, I think are going to have to be big in this game is where all of a sudden, if you got likely

28:43who plays detached or away from being in line, you see him playing like he's not like a true why, but he's detached, then that means you're going to have to kind of deal with him playing out of the slot is what you're going to have to do. So those are the kinds of things that you have to be aware of. There's these routes, these combinations of these routes that they have that's that they want to, you know, they want to get likely involved because they're really simple throws. It's, it's wide receivers clearing and then him driving to a spot and then sitting down and then it's a simple throw up. That's the one thing with Matt Nagy at Kansas City, what is my homestoo? He moves around, but he, that ball gets out of his hands. Mm-hmm. Quick, quick, quick throws. And I think that they're going to try and do very much the same thing and just, it take as much off Jackson, Darts played as they can. Well, when you look at the, when you, when you look at the offensive line for the giants here, of course, you have the rookie, Francis Maui, Noah, top 10 pick out of Miami,

29:47played tackle in college and I'm playing right guard. And then John Michael Schmitz at center and he's been there for some years now. I think this is probably year four or five in 2023, 2023 came in the league. Okay. So, so year four for him and he's never, I mean, I don't think he's, he's gotten to the point where the giants hoped he would be just looking at that right there. I'm expecting Quinn and Williams should have a lot of opportunity when it comes to going up against that center. John Michael Schmitz, the rookie, Francis Maui, Noah, who, you know, we all expect to probably be a very good player at some point, but this is game number one. Welcome to the NFL. Here's Quinn and Williams. Here's Kenny Clark from, from an interior standpoint. I mean, I know Andrew Thomas that left tackle, certainly one of the best in the league, but I would expect this should be a Quinn and Williams game. And even Kenny Clark, the rest of the interior, interior guys should be able to take advantage there.

30:48But is, is there one guy on the offensive line you think is kind of the mark here other than Schmitz? Because I love that match up for, for Quinn. Yeah. I, you know, when you look at, when you look at Quinn and Williams, really, I think that John Runean Jr. is the guy that you kind of need to, he's the left guard. And listen, you can put him over on Francis, Malonella too. I mean, Malonella is a rookie, you know, he's, he, he hasn't, you know, he's played in a very good conference there in the, in the ACC. He's played as a tackle. There are times when you watched him in the Minnesota game where he struggled a little bit. He got a little overextended. He got a little quick. He got a little anxious, you know, and now he's kind of all balanced and guys are able to kind of get around him that way. So I would say the inside three for the, for the, for the giants is kind of where you would attack. And then, you know, the, the, the, the main element or the right tackle is very similar

31:49to what you get with steel that you, when you see him, when you see defenders put their head down and, and rush him and put their head in the middle of his chest and push him, you see him give ground. Um, they're, they're clearly their best player, their best players, Andrew Thomas at left tackle. So you know, that's going to probably be a wash for whoever you rush over there. That's probably going to be, you know, when you throw, if you throw as a rock who over there, what you probably will, you're probably going to throw Laurence Adam a little bit. You're going to throw Vaughn Miller at him, you know, you're going to throw some guys at him and, and, and you know, that's, I just know that that's probably going to be a wash. So you got to find a way then to make the others work and, and where they've struggled. And you know, John Michael Smith was the second round pick at him in a soda and, you know, he's an undersized guy. We all kind of thought that he was going to be because of his athletic ability and, his ability to play second level and all, but the lack of power is just so prevalent when

32:52you watch him play and running is a slow-footed guy. So there, if there's going to be some issues for the giants, it probably will be inside at this, at those, those three inside spots. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that in a big way for sure. And then there, you know, just in general when it comes to a Christian Parker defense, I'm, I'm hoping to see big time improvement, of course, across the board, but in particular, I would say the explosives, I think they gave up 72 plays last year of 20 or more yards, disgusting. And that's one of the things that a Fangeo defense is like priority number one, we're not going to give up huge chunk plays. I would love to see that come to fruition for the Cowboys defense early on here versus the giants. And then, and then the red zone defense as well. I mean, they were given up a ridiculous, you, you had the number the other day on, on our show and the G-bag nation. It was something like 60, almost 70.

33:52Yeah, 70% touchdowns, yeah. 67% touchdowns in the red zone is absolutely brutal. So red zone defense and, and, and just the, the explosives limiting those, I think would be a nice first game under your belt to see, okay, you can already see the immediate improvement there. I do expect to see plenty of improvement from a run defense standpoint. You already saw it a little bit just by adding Quinn Williams last year amidst the Eber Fluce disgusting hellhole of a defense that we were watching. But now I do think the, the Christian Parker run defense with, with Ezraku, of course, in year two, with Gary Clark, Abonia, what you have at linebacker now. I can't wait to see barham and Skataboo meet in the hole for the first time to physical monsters running at each other. Skataboo, of course, off the, the serious leg injury that he suffered last year. He's there starting running back. And he doesn't really scare me other than just the, the, the physicality that he runs

34:53with, but certainly not a burner, not a big play back. So I like the idea of the Cowboys run defense getting off to a really, really nice start here. And then Jackson Dart, how, how reckless is he going to play? Can you take advantage of that a time or two? So you get to go to the blue tent multiple times. I don't know. Everything's on the table when it comes to the way Dart plays quarterback. So I cannot wait to watch this Cowboys defense and Christian Parker game number one Caleb Downs, game number one on the field with Arville Reese's Ohio State Buddy. So much to be excited about for Sunday night and the, the kickoff here for the 2026 season. All right, let's hit a little mail bag brought us and then we'll get a bat at here, man. You're listening to the love of the star podcast. Love the stars and Odyssey podcast. You can find it on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. We are presented by the on time experts. They're the best in the business. The official AC heating and plumbing partner of the Dallas Cowboys, the Dallas stars and right here on love of the star summers winding down. But you can still capitalize as a first time customer on a $59 AC tune up and professional

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36:59customer. So two birds, one stone head into the football season, feeling 10 out of 10, all thanks to the best in the business, the on time experts. Drink up, baby. Fantasy football happy hour is here to get you wins and have some laughs. Matthew Berry here and my podcast, Fantasy Football Happy Hour, has the sleepers bus and start-sit advice you need to win your league. We're diving into the tape, we're crunching the numbers to bring you sleepers. Bus weekly start-sit advice, whether you're defending a title or desperately avoiding last place, I've got you covered every single weekday. The bar is open. It's Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry, wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, brought us, got some Dean Julia Mailbag questions for us here from our fantastic listeners. And let's see where this thing starts off now. We got John Hylett Jr. Do you think there's a post week one free agent signing?

38:02They're a veteran out there that they didn't want to have to guarantee the contract board. So you wait till after week one, you sign them and then you can cut them at any point or whatever else through the rest of the day. Contracts not guaranteed, yeah, the contract not guaranteed. So it's a good question. It is a very good question and I think that depends on what happens at some positions. I think this needs to be a huge game for these cowboy linebackers and I say that because when you start to talk about it, I know we got into the giants. This is a team that will get in some 21 personnel, two tight ends, one back. They'll get in some 22 personnel with the two tight ends, two backs. This team plays with a full back. Patrick Ricard is a big man. And so all of a sudden, if you're trying to play run defense with light box, we'll see with Barham, how much does he play in this game with Overshown? How much does he play?

39:03With these linebackers struggling, if the down line and aren't keeping things kind of clean and tidy for them and they're having to fight blocks, that could be very well a position that you absolutely look at. We'll see what happens at the offensive tackle spot. They've already made moves with the trades and practice squad stuff. Do they need to make more moves? Do they need to make a move at guard? These are all kinds of things that I think that I'm looking at. I think that those would be the positions, the offensive line or then the linebackers. If there's going to be a post week one signing, there's some guys that are still out there available and they might to tickle their fancy to do that a little bit. Yeah, the Bobby Wagner stuff, right? That would be the one that would be the one linebacker for sure. That's a great point right there when it comes to Barham Overshown, Winters, taking on

40:06fullback. They got to play well in this game. If Dallas is going to win this game and I think Dallas will win this game, but if they are bad at linebacker in this game, it's going to make it a lot tougher to win it. No question. Okay, Paris Remix is who's the one giants player you think could surprise everyone this year. I think he gave us a good one with Malachi Fields, the rookie wide receiver. An Isaiah likely who is ball-nowers, no Isaiah likely well. He's been tied into and Baltimore for many years behind Mark Andrews, solid player but has never just gotten the volume. But now he's tied in one. John Harball brings him over to New York with him and again, nice security blanket guy for Jackson Dart. I think that's really in Fields are two guys that jump out to me. Could Deontate Banks maybe finally meet the moment? They really, yeah, they think that Banks has flipped the switch from what he's done in the past. Let me give you another one, Colton Hood, the rookie corner from Tennessee.

41:08I wouldn't be surprised if Colton Hood, if all of a sudden, then Banks knew some new sums of veteran. They really do like new sum. I wouldn't be surprised if Colton Hood finds this way. We'll see him probably play a little bit in a week one, but by the time they circle back, I wouldn't be surprised if Colton Hood starting for the Giants defense. Okay, Dr. Chett mentioning John Harball's special teams background, given the Giants potentially a real edge. How important is it for Dallas to simply play clean on special teams and what can they do to mitigate the hidden yardage, mistakes or big plays that could swing a close game yeah, for sure. The special teams Nick Sorenson, a lot of pressure on him to get that unit figured out. I know they made some moves for the roster, guys who made the roster specifically because of what they are able to do on special teams. So yeah, that's going to be a huge part of this. I was looking. Last year, the Ravens were, they were 12 in special teams DVOA in 2025.

42:14The year before that, they were just 23rd. So there has been some volatility. It's not like John Harball guaranteed top five special teams unit every single year, but the Ravens were the 12th ranked unit special teams DVOA last year. And I would say just on the surface of what we know at this point, yeah, that's probably the one of those where I would say advantage Giants until we see otherwise from Sorenson and company. You have the advantage kicker. That's your real advantage. And no, I'm sure, being very mindful though, this is a game where I don't think there's going to be any problems with the weather. I know you and I will handle the pre-game duties. We always ask Christy Scales, you know, what's going on? Is there one particular way? The old Giants stadium used to have some issues, but now that you're not having to deal, this is not a late season game. You're probably not going to have to deal with any inclement weather. You do have the advantage kicker here. Your kicker last year was the difference. It was one of the reasons why you won the game in week two.

43:17So outdoor stadium, probably not any poor conditions to have to deal with, but yeah, Dallas has got to prove though that they, you know, Dallas needs to find a way to get field position. You know, they need to find a way when taking advantage of some kickoffs, you get turp and going where he could just focus. I believe this about him. He was focusing on being a wide receiver last year. He's a focus on being that kicker turn guy. You know, and if you can take advantage of some kickoff or turn, grab some field position, grab some field position, all punts, you know, limit. Hopefully you're not punning a lot. Hopefully you're kicking off a lot in this game, but you clearly have the advantage when it comes to the field goal kickers here. And last one here, Bob, harder party Bob wants to know what we're looking for to see if the defense will be much improved this year. Yeah, I talked about it in the breakdown a few minutes ago. I think the explosives and the red zone defense. It's kind of like the two things that I'm marking in game one. Hopefully you see much improvement there. Of course, you got to see it across the board. Third down defense, all that kind of stuff last year was a disaster.

44:20The run defense, which I'm confident will be much better. But for this game in particular, red zone and the explosives and then being able to contain Dart with his legs, don't let a jail and hurt situation. Remember week one last year, jail for running all over you for chunks of that game. This would be the few that I would be looking at. Yeah, this is where, to me, I think you mentioned about third down defense. Dallas was horrible getting off the field last year on third down. You got to find a way to be better than that. You can't let teams hit you about 46, 47%. That was just horrific the way that was. Give this offense one or two extra possessions a game and you're going to find yourself on the winning side of life. I'm going to, there's a couple of things. I think the third down defense getting off the field and then the run defense. The giants are going to try and bully you in this game. They're going to try and do that. I mean, if you know what Harbaugh has done before when he's played the Cowboys, what's he done? He's taken backs and just, just tried to destroy you with his, with his running game.

45:25I think Dallas, they need to be on the mark with that. They need to be getting off them blocks. They need to be filling the gaps. They need to be tackling very, very well. Can't be missing tackles in this game. That would be a big, big problem if you see that. 100%. Thanks for the fantastic questions. Prediction time, Broughtos. I'm going 27, 20 Cowboys get the dub. Yeah, I think you're right in the right ballpark there. I would say 28, 17 Dallas. Love it. We'll be back now. We're in full season mode. Right here on Love with the Star, send it to your friends, like, rate, subscribe, review. We love you. We appreciate you. Shout out to the on time experts. Let them take care of you at the highest level. We'll be back multiple times a week all throughout the season. So keep it locked right here on Love with the Star. He's the Super Bowl champion, Broughtos. I'm Eric Chiafalo. Until next time, hands in hug pounds, everyone.