The Musers- Ed Werder

0:30Saturday, September 26th, two of combat sports most dangerous strikers collide. Bear Knuckle. Liverpool's own down in the Gorilla Till goes to war with Cuban powerhouse Yoel Soldier of Da Vramero. Plus the Bear Knuckle Midowent Championship of the world is on the line. When the rating champ Dave Varedneck Mundell defends against undefeated British challenger, Jack Demeek Cleaver-Colin, BKFC 94, Till vs. Romero. Watch it live only on the zone. Sign up now at thezone.com. And it is a Tuesday morning and that means it's time to talk cowboys and NFL with our insider Ed Werder who you've seen through the years on ESPN. You ready, Mon? In the Dallas Morning News, you see him on WFA and he joins us. Tuesdays at this time each week throughout the football season. It's brought to us by A1 Locksmith Security and Safe. Morning Ed. Good morning. Sounds like you guys are on the golf course. Very nice golf out there from the gallery and live in attendance at your tournament.

1:33Oh yeah. Gallery is ready to go for today. Okay, so they're back to 500. The offense got cranked up a big day for DEC. Are you still looking sideways at this defense after two games? Well, yeah, a little bit. I mean, I don't think we saw a dramatic improvement. But when you consider the coaching staff being completely changed out and so much new personnel relying pretty heavily on three rookies that they drafted to play significant roles, but they're still allowing 24 points of game and nearly 400 yards of game. They haven't won time of possession against the Giants or Washington. So I think you're a little concerned about that and then you've got the ominous threat of the quarterback who in Lamar Jackson who leads the NFL in terms of most rushing yards by a quarterback and then Derek Henry who represents the greatest threat to Emmett Smith's

2:35career rushing record. So yeah, I think I think they've made a little bit of improvement, but I'm kind of more concerned about where's Roshan Gary? Where's Vaughn Miller? Where's Quinten Williams? So veterans don't seem to be like showing up on the stat sheet and then the game film and the way you would expect. Yeah, it is concerning and the old adage over the years in football, any coach would tell you our priority is to run the ball and stop the run. And I do think that changed 15 or 20 years ago in the NFL, became more about we got to throw the ball and rush the passer, but it is still important to run the ball and stop the run and these cowboys through two games can't do either. Do you think that works itself out or is that going to be a season long problem? Well, defensively, I think it's hard to say, you know, one of the reasons that a boy is drafted, Caleb Downs with the 11th overall pick is they want to be one of these teams that addresses the opponent run game by having a safety who can play down in the box around

3:41the mid-term mission be involved in the run defense, but can also be somebody who can play coverage against a slot receiver based on, you know, formation and situation and so forth and so at that's a big part of why Caleb Downs is here. It's also the reason the cowboys invested, you know, traded Mike a Parsons and with what they acquired, invested in Quinten Williams and Kenny Clark. I don't think we've seen the results of the return expected given that at this point and then offensively, I mean, Shottie's talked about, you know, hey, we're going to run the ball. We're going to run the football when we want to. Now last year, Dak Prescott threw over 600 passes for the first time in his career, second most of the NFL to Bo Nick. And a lot of that was because, well, they're constantly behind because they're defense, I can't stop anyone and they can't get off the field and they give up, you know, points every time they're out there. So I thought that was more that they were forced into that mode, but this year again, now

4:43they, it seems like they're unable to really just the absence of Tyler Smith that's causing this because you know, they still literally returned all the other offensive line, but all the offensive players, you know, starters are relatively intact. I don't think the tight end block is pretty well, but you know, Clayton Adams is supposed to be a run game guru. We saw what Javante Williams is capable of. He's here in the Cowboys averaging 67.5 yards per game, third worst in the NFL. And then one of the reasons they've only, you know, they haven't had the ball much. And Brian Schottner, we're explaining yesterday, hey, the first game, you know, we only had a ball for 23 minutes and playing from behind in the second game against Washington, their strategy was to throw the football at that secondary and they did it very successfully. But we'll see because they're certainly going to want to be able to run the football against this Ravens team on Sunday in Rio. Yeah, I think the lack of productivity on the ground is concerning for the Cowboys. It looks really bad if you took the DAK runs of the last two weeks out of their run production.

5:48And speaking of run production, what do you think we see with Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry against the Cowboys run defense? Well, it's going to be really interesting because the Cowboys threw two games we saw really struggled with Jackson Dart who ran for over 50 yards against them. And then last week, Jaden Daniels had 69 yards on seven attempts before he got hurt. And really, it hasn't been, you know, designed quarterback runs. It's been more, you know, scrambles from the pocket by the quarterbacks that have hurt the Cowboys. But, yeah, I mean, Lamar Jackson, you know, he's third in the NFL and scrambles yards of season with 72 on seven carries average of 10 yards of carry. And like I said, he's a two time NFL MVP three time first team all pro holds the NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback. And you know, plan Doyle, their new offensive coordinator, the youngest play collar in the NFL on that side of the ball has shown that he's willing to have Lamar Jackson under

6:52center and using the play action game. In fact, in their first game in week one, it was the first time in the Ravens 31 year history that they had a 300 yard passer, 150 yard receiver and Zayf Lauer's and a 100 yard russia and Derek Henry in the same game. Wow. He's been under center now 58% of the time. That's the highest of, you know, any game in his career since week one. He's usually a guy who's under center under 10%. So to me, that makes him that much harder to defend when not in the pistol or the shotgun. So it'll be a big challenge. I think just recognition wise for defense that has had issues communicating early in the year. It's our weekly visit with our cowboys and NFL insider Ed Werter. It was quite a day for DAC on Sunday. He basically didn't throw an incompletion. They were just a couple four touchdowns, no picks and he breaks the franchise touchdown passing record. You've seen him every bit of the way.

7:54You've covered a lot of cowboy quarterbacks over the years. He has developed into a really, really good quarterback. And I know the playoff thing is still out there for him, but you can't really ask much more out of a guy in terms of regular season production and his leadership. Yeah. And he's just in total command out there. Like he is fully invested in preparing the way you would want as a quarterback. He knows what he's seeing. He knows how to react and get in a favorable play. I mean, there's really nothing he can do. He's the most statistically dominant quarterback in the history of a franchise that's had Troy Aikman, Roger Stuback and Tony Romo. It's all about now the postseason. But first, he's got to get there. And I think it's interesting that not only did he throw his 249 touchdown pass and eclipse Tony Romo for the most in franchise history a decade after he placing him as a fourth round

8:56draft pick. But Prescott and Patrick Mahomes are the only active players leading their current teams in career passing touchdowns. And to me, the shame of it all is that basically you look at, you know, Romo and you look at the deck and the Cowboys have had 21 years of exceptional quarterback play from an undrafted player and a fourth round pick in deck. Prescott and Tony Romo. They are in first and second in franchise history by nearly every statistical measure. And yet each is only one, two postseason games. Those are wild card games. And so there's just so much left. And you can just you can sense it from back like he's pretty up front about the fact that it's all about, you know, winning playoff games and ultimately winning a championship that really motivates and drives him from this point forward. It's our Cowboys and NFL insider Ed Werter with us here on the ticket. Okay, so we're up to nine international games.

9:57The Cowboys and Ravens, Plain and Rio de Janeiro this Sunday, seven different countries. And I understand which way this is going. The league is trying to really promote this and who knows we may have 12 next year. Do you think with fans and especially when you have home games taken away from you, the only opposition I could see that would make it somewhat a significant resistance would be the player's association next time around. Maybe I think they'll they'll even talk about something like this. I mean, it's headed the way that we all think, right? This is this is not going anywhere. Is it? Look, it's it's all driven by, you know, Roger Cadal and the NFL owners trying to create a new revenue streams. And the best way to do that is become globally popular. And that's why they've created all these international games and they've, you know, multiplied

11:01them every year. And you know, what good delts been up front about the fact that in a short space of time, he expects to have an NFL franchise that operates in another country. Most people think that'll be London because they've they've maxed out, you know, all of the traditional revenue streams for the most part, like ticket sales. Yeah, they may begin a little more at a television. They've been very creative and creating levers for that. But I just don't know that we've seen in terms of controlling that growth. I don't know that we've seen the NFL PA act anytime recently in a way where they have something of value to the point that they can leverage the NFL and prevent them owners from getting something that they desperately want. And usually that's money and that's what these games represent. And I think you can certainly argue that the NFL doesn't really care how it affects the product on the field. We saw the Rams, right? Sean, Sean McVeigh was still huffing and puffing about it yesterday.

12:02First of all, he came back and said he was never going to go again. And the Rams only marketing rights to Australia. They've made 12 trips in the organization over there. And he comes back and says, I'm never we're never going there again if I can help it. And then last night after they win, he sort of diminishes the 49ers dominant victory in week one in Australia by saying something, you know, you're dumb belief coach can't get you to the game on time and can't prepare you properly. So the NFL, but the NFL doesn't come back and say, yeah, we got to be careful about this. It's affecting the quality of play. I don't want that to happen. We're not going to go to Australia anymore just the opposite. Speaking of those Rams last night, they looked more like the Super Bowl favorite than everybody thought they were. They took apart the Giants, although the Giants lost Jackson, Dart early. Yeah. Do you like the Rams coming out of the NFC or are you impressed by the 49ers hot start? Any of these other teams very early? Do you think we'll challenge L.A.?

13:03I think when you look around, it's hard to find three better teams than the ones you just mentioned. Seattle, the defending Super Bowl champions, you know, which they went on the road and took apart a bad Carlos team, but a Cardinals team that had won the previous week against the Chargers. They did it with a backup quarterback. They got, they expect Sam Donald to come back to practice this week. Anytime you can go on the road and win dominantly with your backup quarterback, I think that says a lot. I mean, they're up there again. I think there's second and fewest points allowed, which they led the NFL and that statistic last year. So, it's been about defense. And you know, the Rams had the one bad game to open the season. It's the 49ers, but the 49ers have looked tremendous, even though they're an older team. And I think that will be the challenge for Kyle Shanahan is, can he, can he see a group of players, which includes like six players on the swing offensive, or over 30 years old? How healthy can they, you know, go through this entire season? But yeah, I think those are the three best teams in football.

14:04I think the Rams are certainly, certainly in there. I mean, they took apart the Giants last night by 22 points. You can say, you know, the Giants were different. They were three and 14 team again once they lost Jackson Dart. But the Rams played without Miles Garrett and Pukin Nikula and still one easily. So yeah, I think the Rams are one of the top three teams in football for sure. You're not going to Rio, are you? I'm not going to go to Rio and I'm not going to blame it on Rio and I'm not going to blame it on the musers. Okay, that's fair enough. Yeah, I did think about it this week, thinking old school, I would have loved to have seen. You mentioned Sean McVale would have loved to see Jimmy's reaction to. You're going to play a game that counts in Rio. Yeah, and please let the crown prince of Saudi Arabia in the locker room after the game to celebrate the victory. If you, if there is such a thing and let him be on the sidelines and interact with you while you're trying to coach your football team and get it ready to play the game.

15:05And oh, the field is in dire question. Jimmy would have had it all mapped out like he did. You know, that NFU champion gave a candlestick where they're worried about wet spots on the field and where they could execute certain plays with quality footing and where they couldn't. So it'll be interesting to see what they, how they, what kind of field they wind up playing on. And the Cowboys might be more of an advantage if it's not a great shirt play surface, to be honest with you. Yeah. I'm a good head and a little more Jackson. Maybe one way to slow them down. All right, Ed. Great stuff as always. Have a have a good week. All right. Joy your golf tournament. Real out of money for special Olympics and thanks for being out there. You bet. Thank you. We'll see you. Thank you, Ed. That's Ed Werder. Our NFL and Cowboys insider Saturday, September 26th, two of combat sports most dangerous strikers collide. Bear knuckle. Liverpool's own down in the Karila tail goes to war with Cuban powerhouse. LL soldier of God Romero plus the bear knuckle middleweight championship of the world is on the line when the rating champ Dave the Redneck Mundell defends against undefeated

16:06British challenger Jack Demeek Cleaver colon BKFC 94 till verse Romero. Watch it live only on the zone. Sign up now at the zone dot com.