Can Cowboys solve their stagnant offense? | Free4All+

Off tonight, of course, we're talking a lot of football on this Thursday night. Jeff Cole joins me from the star in a moment. Some of what Dak had to say today we thought was pretty interesting. Jeff followed up with some of the comments about, you know, Dak saying he wanted to be more aggressive offensively in certain situations this past Sunday. Some of Prescott's responses were somewhat interesting today, so we'll get into that and more. We'll have our picks, Sam and Jeff and producer Landry and Poppy, the station mascot. For the Cowboys and the Colts. Also, high school football tonight is underway on Channel 27, where you sometimes see this show. We're streaming tonight, but Arlington Heights against Brewer tonight, a district championship game there. Stars are in Columbus skating, scoreless after one. And what else? Ravens and Jags tonight in the NFL. So a sporty little Thursday night. A reminder that we're with you every night. Monday through Friday anyway at 10.30 on Fox 4's free-for-all Sunday nights at 10. As for those Dallas Cowboys, at 3 and 5, they go to Indianapolis to play the 2 and 6 Colts on Sunday. Now, we've been saying this a lot this year, but if Dallas loses this one, it is rock bottom, right? Then it's over. Then the coaching death watch is on. But we'll see where it goes. You'll see it Sunday at noon right here on Fox 4. Thursday, Jeff, of course, means it's Dak Day. We hear from the quarterback who's looking for some answers as to how to jumpstart an offense that's been pretty inconsistent here lately. Sure has, Mike. And, you know, when you go back to Sunday, that shocking overtime loss to Arizona, I think the obvious question everybody expected to be asked was, if Jerry Jones, would you consider making a head coaching change with Brian Schottenheimer? But the moment that stuck out most to me was Dak Prescott He did not hide his feelings or defend his head coach and offensive play caller, Brian Schottenheimer, at his press conference. Dak said that he regretted the conservative approach on offense during a late fourth quarter series right before the two-minute warning after a failed onside kick by the Cardinals, where Dallas' double-digit lead had dwindled from 14 down to three, and the Cowboys wound up just settling for a field goal. What do you feel like? Can you be more aggressive and try to push it past the sticks? Yeah, um... Yeah, I wish we were a little bit more aggressive in that moment. I'm never going to apologize for trying to be balanced. That's what we want to be. Dak Prescott's an MVP caliber player. But at the end of the day, balance is real in football. That was Schottenheimer's thoughts when asked Wednesday about his conservative game plan for the Arizona game, something Jerry Jones highlighted Tuesday on the radio. Now, Shottie and Dak's offense so far this season has scored 219 points. That's third most in the NFL this year and number one in the NFC. But in the Baltimore and Arizona games, late field goals instead of touchdowns have led to losses. Earlier this afternoon, I asked Dak how he and Shottie can rectify their late game communication. What does the process look like for you and him to try and get that right mix of aggression? Yeah, I guess for me to just speak up about it when I want it. Is that something that, you know, in the meeting you have with him one-on-one, you kind of dive into that type of concept? Yeah, I'm just saying more particularly like during the game at certain times to just, you know, when I really feel it, and I want it to make sure that it's known and it's understood. Is that something you've done in your time together or just something you want to do more of? No, I mean, I think it's something I've done. I don't think it's not happening by any means. I was just more answering the being aggressive question more than... Like, plays aren't getting called that I want. No, none of that. It's just, you know, what I take from the game, what I said I want to back was that series. And my point is maybe, you know, before that, you know, whether it be just some encouragement, but, hey, let's go put these guys away. Let's go put one in the end zone. That maybe could go a long way. So, Mike, Dak pointing more to the messaging, it seemed like, in that answer right there than the play calling. Really interesting to me. Again, I link these two games, Arizona and Baltimore, very closely. The end of game management for Brian Schottenheimer. And I think I'm left wondering what exactly that sounds like from Shottie to Dak Prescott. It doesn't seem like it's something that Prescott is satisfied with. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Jeff. Just from a media standpoint, we criticize these guys when their answers are too generic. And then when Dak gives a very honest answer, we pick it apart. But for good reason, just because it was, I guess, so honest from Dak when he said, yeah, I wish we'd been more aggressive. And it's just the way he answered your question today. I need to speak up at times during the game when I want to be more aggressive. It leads to my next question, I guess, or my next point. Are there any indications that you can see that there's any sort of disconnect between Dak and Schottenheimer? Or is it just kind of semantics at this point in terms of the logistics of communication during the course of a game? I don't think there's a lot of obvious indicators, Mike, but again, I go back to the postgame moment after the Arizona loss. I thought that was very different from what we heard out of the Dak Prescott down in Rio de Janeiro, who basically sort of deferred a hard answer on the situation to later in the week that didn't really hang Shottie out to dry. And so I'm going to be very interested to see what Shottie has to say He's pressed on this Friday morning here, his next press conference coming up at the Star, about this communication. And, again, just going back to that final answer from Dak here today about the messaging and basically the optimism, I don't know, that really surprised me. I mean, this is a guy, as Shadi said there, MVP caliber quarterback who... What I took away from that today was basically saying, I want to hear more confidence. I want to hear more belief in me. And it doesn't seem like Brian Schottenheimer is delivering that for Dak Prescott. And I think you have to wonder, right, maybe it's the stress and the pressure of Shottie kind of getting into this don't lose, white-knuckle situation that isn't empowering his franchise quarterback in those moments. And I think to that point, the bottom line here, It has to do with the struggles Schottenheimer is having as a play caller right now, and the fact that he seems to be changing with whichever way the wind is blowing, okay? They ran the ball well against Philly, so- Come hell or high water, they're going to run the ball in the next game as well, and that's bound to frustrate a quarterback at times. Let's talk about another important member of this offense, that being George Pickens. I guess he didn't speak with the media today. What's the situation with Pickens? Is he hurt right now? Is he struggling with his health in some way or another? What's the latest there? So Pickens was here. He was out on the practice field, looked pretty loose, listed on the injury report as limited with a hamstring this week, did not speak with us. That doesn't mean that he won't speak potentially on Friday, but he was not in the locker room at all after this practice, which is uncharacteristic. He always does typically speak with us on Thursdays. But there's a lot of noise around George Pickens right now. For one, we know the trade deadline looms on November 10th, just a couple days after this upcoming game in Indianapolis. And then there's the usage of George Pickens, both the lack of production. But let me start with the snap count, Mike, because for the last two games, he has not been on the field. As often as Ryan Flanoy. You look back at last Sunday, Pickens out there for 42 snaps. CeeDee Lamb led the way at 56. Ryan Flanoy, 50 snaps for the season. Flanoy, 44 targets. Pickens, 62 targets. I don't think any of us would have thought that that gap would be so small, and you remember a couple weeks ago, Pickens criticized by Schottenheimer at a weekly press conference for a lack of run blocking, so it just begs the question, is it really the injuries, which the coaching staff says that's the reason he's being limited right now, or is it just a lack of belief that he's willing to participate in all phases of the game? I'd love to know what the quarterback really thinks about that as well. He's saying all the right things in terms of Pickens being a great teammate, things like that. Maybe that's part of his frustration, though, the fact that one of his biggest playmakers isn't always available when he thinks he should be. Quick update, Caleb Downs was in the concussion protocol. What's it looking like for him Sunday? Yeah, so he made progress today. He didn't practice Wednesday, but was limited today and not just going through rehab assignments. He was out there with the rest of the secondary players. Looks sharp. So, you know, in my mind, if he's out there with the music blaring, doing his thing, that seems positive for his progress. Same goes for P.J. Locke, who also is in concussion protocol. For Caleb Downs, I think this is a very meaningful game. His brother, Josh, on the other side, they've never played at the collegiate level. They never played in the pro level, of course. Caleb just a rookie this year. So they have an opportunity to face off, not just team versus team, but. Brother versus brother on the field. They did face off back in high school growing up in Georgia, and Josh actually caught a touchdown on Caleb. So you know Caleb Downs would love to get a chance to lock his brother down. And his brother, by the way, mentioned in trade talks one of many Colts players that might be on the trading block. Josh has actually requested a trade from Indy. So they've had this one circled all year, talked about it on their podcast. It seems like Caleb Downs hopefully is trending in the right direction. All right, let's get to the picks right now. We were all wrong except Poppy last week. And this time around, I've got Dallas again. Don't ask me why. 31-27, Sam's going with a similar score, 28-24. Cowboys and Jeff, you've got a relatively big Dallas win, huh? Yeah, I don't know why. I don't know what I was. Maybe it was a typo. Maybe the text message was a typo. Yeah, 34-14, I don't know. Part of me, honestly, wants to just pick the other team until the Cowboys finally win again. But I'll say this, as bad as the Arizona loss felt, I truly believe this is the worst team, Indianapolis, that Dallas has faced yet. So if you thought they've hit rock bottom, they have a new opportunity to do it here Sunday in Indianapolis. Producer Landry going with the Colts, 35-31. How about Poppy? What does Poppy think? Hi, Jeff. Poppy and most of us going Cowboys. Landry going Colts. We'll see what happens Sunday at noon. You'll be making that trip. Safe travels. And you'll be in here tomorrow night. Jeff Kolb at the start. Thank you. All right, you've got our picks. Who do you think will win on Sunday? Cowboys at Indy. So far, all of you predicting an Indianapolis home win over your Dallas Cowboys. Go to fox4news.com slash free-for-all or scan the code. Carter Freeman coming up, talking college football after this. All right, Carter Freeman from our Fox Ford digital desk. What is your official title? Dallas Digital Content Creator is my official title. So we have a Dallas team and a regional team. I'm on the Dallas team. So I just focus on the fun stuff that goes on around here, including whatever nonsense with the Cowboys and what they're doing. Dallas Digital Content Creator. Yes, all four words in that title, very important. You must get them in order and said properly. All right, I will never forget that. All right. We talk college football most weeks with you. Have you traveled anywhere fun since we last talked? Man, since... You and your lady always go somewhere, no? No, we traveled... Gosh, I'm trying to even think. Last weekend was like the first weekend in forever. We didn't have some trip to a different state, a different place. You've been on a beach shortly before that. That was two weeks ago. Last weekend was pretty chill. I think we actually skipped our long run. We're both training for a half marathon right now. So we decided to just kind of take it easy. We're like, you know, we're in our own bed for the first time. knows how long. So let's just, let's sleep in and just kind of enjoy, enjoy some rest. Have you run half marathons, marathons before? I've done five Ks and 10 Ks. So this is my first half marathon. Believe it or not, fat boy here has run a couple of half marathons. My wife and I used to run a lot as well. You kind of, I was a 30 mile a week runner for a long time. Do you have any advice for the first time runner for the, band-aids over your nipples? My dad has told me the same thing. Be careful on that. It's a real thing. I mean, we can laugh about it, but, like, yes. That's not funny. I've heard horror stories for both genders, too. The first time I ran one, a buddy of mine was even bigger than me because I was, you know, one of the porky guys trying to go the half marathon, and he was wearing a white, like, dry fit. It was not white by the end of it. Yeah. It wasn't. There were streaks coming down by the end of that. Okay, duly noted. I will find some Band-Aids prior to that. Anyway, but no, I noticed on social how much you guys run. It's freeing, man. You got to White Rock and run? Yes, that's our... Love it. We'll be there. I'll be there on Saturday for a nine or ten mile run. It's one of those things, and if you're a long-time runner before, you know, like, if you run nine, you might as well run ten, right? Exactly. What's an extra mile when you've already, you know, been running for almost two hours? We'll get to the picks, I promise. But we moved a couple of years ago from Carrollton up to Little Elm, where we live now. And it's just too far to drive from up there to White Rock. But I would still go almost every week up until a couple of years ago and walk the loop. Lovely nine-mile trail for runners. Beautiful treasure for Dallas to have. All right, let's go. Here we go. Number one, Miami. Number 11, Notre Dame. Looks like Tony's out for the Hurricanes. Notre Dame with really no margin for error, I guess, to make the playoff, right? That's what the CFP committee told you on Tuesday. So we finally got our first CFP rankings. We'll get those for about a month before the field is set. But them putting Notre Dame, who was, I believe, number four, number five in the AP poll, and they still are, the AP poll still exists. This was going to be a top five matchup before Tuesday. And then the committee tells you we don't respect. Pretty much anything Notre Dame has done all season because their one big game was against BYU, and they lost. There's some controversy there for sure, but at the end of the day, Notre Dame lost that game. So this is their last huge game on the schedule. They do have SMU in a couple weeks, but SMU, right after I say they're the best one-loss Texas team, they lose to Syracuse. So, you know, got to eat some crow there. But with SMU's loss, that... Game gets a little kind of murkier for Notre Dame and their chances. So this really feels like if they lose to Miami, like they did last year and they finished 10 and two, they're done. And they're, I think the committee too is saying we really messed up by kind of teasing Notre Dame fans last year by putting them in the rankings all season until the final ranking where they got left out. Now they're telling them, Hey, you're at 11. Now y'all got to win out two losses. They're going to cut it. Like there's, there's two loss SEC teams already ahead of them. Alabama brings us to Alabama. So Notre Dame fans wondering, how can we only be 11? Bama fans are thinking, oh, we're five. Great world. We five play at LSU this week. This is one of the more confusing ones to me. They do have a win over Kentucky, a big win on the road at Kentucky, who since that game, Kentucky has not lost. We live in a world where Alabama winning at Kentucky is a big win. Yes, it is. Yes. It's bizarre. But the other, you know, they've Alabama's losses are to number two, Georgia, and then to Tennessee. Tennessee, coincidentally, has two losses as well, yet they're ranked 13 in the CFP committee. So there's eight spots difference between the two. This is something a lot of college football fans and analysts have brought up over the last couple of years, is the committee, especially early on, they shoot themselves in the foot by kind of throwing darts at the wall and seeing where things kind of stick, because what if Tennessee and Alabama both win out? They're both 10 and 2. How could you justify bumping Tennessee 8-spot, 9-spots over Alabama by the end of this when you put them that far ahead to begin with? It's a little silly. Huge Big 12 game. BYU at Utah. Two top 10 teams. And the start time is ridiculous in this, right? This is a 10 a.m. local start time. Crazy. I mean, look at some of the other games here. We have seven ranked matchups. There are three matchups that you can't see right now on this graphic because we've got so many ranked matchups this weekend. So I get it's a big weekend, but this is the Big 12 game of the year. This is a top-ten matchup. This is Holy War, one of the best rivalry names in the sport. It's always an awesome game. Landry and I were talking about this beforehand, how no matter if the team's good or bad, it's like OU Texas. Slant producer Landry covered this game. You just throw the records at it. More than one occasion. It's a great game. And now that's a top 10 team, and we're putting them at 11 a.m. Texas time. Like, that's just silly. All right. Let's go Oregon, Ohio State. Your notes here interest me because Oregon's, they have three losses now? Yes. Yeah. They lost to Oklahoma State. And you're speculating. Okay, go ahead. They've lost to Illinois, and they lost to UCLA. Okay. Obviously UCLA is a good loss. I mean, and I guess none of them are considered horrible losses right now, but your, uh, conjecture is could the ducks possibly get in somehow at nine and three, if they keep it going. I think that's what the committee is telling you by ranking them in this initial ranking. Cause they did beat Northwestern last week. And that was a ranked win over that Northwestern team. So, you know, you could look at their, their wins and say they They've beaten some ranked teams. Obviously, you mentioned their losses aren't catastrophic. But they do have three losses. It is a clear uphill battle. But if you do go on the road and beat Ohio State, and I understand Ohio State doesn't have their starting quarterback, but it is still Ohio State. Going on the road and getting that kind of win, that has put Texas in the top 10. I understand Texas beat them at home when their quarterback was healthy, but that's propelled Texas. I still think beating an Ohio State team that's number 12 on the road, that'll do something for Oregon going forward. And by ranking them, I think if Oregon wins out, they're going to be in contention for that final spot. My Hawkeyes are 19th with two losses right now. They play at Northwestern this week, a huge game for them. If they win out, they should be in, too. All right, number seven, Texas, at number 18, Mizzou. I love your biased note here. Texas in the top ten despite two pretty bad losses. Hey, don't worry. They had a pretty big win, though. You just told me that winning at Ohio State with a backup quarterback is a big win for Oregon. And that's why Texas is number seven. Because some of their other games would not tell you they're a top 10 team, but they also beat the number one team in the country at home and had a big comeback in that game as well. So that's why they're in the top 10. And they do have a road win over Tennessee, who's a top 15 team. But the losses for Texas, I think, are as ugly as any of the teams in that range right there. Obviously, a 4-4 OU team who's unranked. You lost to Florida at home, who's got a couple losses themselves. Thank I just, I don't know that again, I'm wearing an OU shirt. So take what I say with a grain of salt, but I also dislike Mizzou. That's another classic OU rivalry, but this is going to be interesting because Texas has struggled in recent weeks. They did have the big win over Mississippi State. They might've gotten some things corrected there at home last week, but Mizzou beat the crap out of you. a Florida team at home a couple of weeks ago that went into Austin and beat Texas a couple of weeks ago. So all right, 30 seconds here. We've talked about Kentucky. Do they remember who they are all of a sudden, or do they figure out a way to get it done at Tennessee? I'm going to take the Vols on this one. When it comes to the checkered teams, as they both love their checkers, I think Tennessee at home. That's going to be the end of the run for Kentucky. And Georgia, a tough road test. Do the dogs prevail? No, I think No. Ole Miss has had Georgia's number in recent years, so I say the Rebels get it done again. All right. Carter Freeman, always good stuff on college football. Thank you much. We'll wrap our show up after this. All right, Stars scoreless as they skate in Columbus midway through the second period tonight. As we mentioned off the top, just a lot of things going on. NFL game, high school football game tonight. We'll get into a lot of Cowboys talk, of course, as well, as we look ahead to Free-for-All on Fox 4 at 10:30. We will see you again soon.