Cowboys hold on to beat Colts | Free4All+

It is Free For All Plus, Mike Ducey with Sam Gannon. We are back together again. It was a week ago tonight that we last worked together. These weeks fly by so quickly. One kind of runs into the other, but you took a little trip. Did you have a good time? I did. I went to Fort Lauderdale for a few days, and I actually went there and gave my friend, Jackie, all the credit in the world. She's been trying to get me to do one of these swim competitions. I've been hesitant because I actually haven't been swimming in two years at all. But. This pool in Fort Lauderdale, it's called the International Swimming Hall of Fame. And it's where I had my first big and my biggest swim meets, our national meets were there. So I hadn't been in that pool. Since 2005, which is my senior year in high school, I hadn't swam in it and did the competition, did pretty well. And I'm like, maybe I'll get myself actually back into swimming shape. Yeah, because people may not know you were, I think it's fair to say, like a nationally ranked swimmer as a kid and as a high school kid and swam for a while in college as well. So it's cool that you're able to touch that page again. It was your weekend. You know, it was nice. Good family weekend. Had some longtime friends. We're in town from the Midwest and we all played with our grandkids in the backyard. I love that. We've known these people, Ruth and I, since before we had kids, let alone grandkids. So the fact that all these years later we're able to spend some time together again, it was a lot of fun. As for your Dallas Cowboys, it was, Sam, an ugly win, but a win nonetheless. Now, if you just looked at the stat sheet, you would have thought it was a dominant Dallas win. Twice as many total yards. The Cowboys were over 500 yards. They passed for over 300, ran it for 179. 34 runs, 34 passes. Perfectly balanced, yet they trailed until the final moments. An impressive drive by the offense, a final stop by the defense with the downs interception, and that put it away. But it was an undisciplined performance from Brian Schottenheimer's team. 14 penalties. We'll get into that ridiculous overshown blunder here in a moment. The head coach did meet with the media this afternoon, discussing in part the lack of discipline showed by his team. Sloppy, not good enough. Thank you very much. I think there was two pre-snap, which is a positive. We've been averaging about seven penalties a game, so we're twice the average. Thank you. Not good enough at all. Yesterday was the outlier. It wasn't good enough, and that's why that game came down to the way it came down. That game should have been where we win by a couple touchdowns maybe, but we let them hang around. We put ourselves behind the sticks on offense a bunch. Thank you very much. You know, explain to the guys if we don't clean that up, it's going to hurt our ability to do what we want to do. Yeah, this is our first chance to talk about this game together, Sam. And we talked about it yesterday, had Matt Mosley on. We'll have that segment again. But even this team, when it does some things well, can't quite escape the idiotic errors. And man, it was just a comedy of errors on Sunday to the point where they almost let this thing get away from them. It started to look a lot like the Arizona game. Double-digit lead late in the third quarter. Suddenly, they're trailing in the game. They made a few plays down the stretch to get it done. But that overriding lack of discipline, I think, was a big theme coming out of this game. And what week are we about to head into? Week 10? Yeah, they've played nine games, yeah, week 10. So even though we can come away from some of these games that they have won and said, well, they've done some things well, more oftentimes than not, those things are overshadowed by the amount of bad things that they've done. Even against another bad team like the Colts, like they almost let that slip away. I actually was on the beach. I had it. I was listening to it. I was kind of watching, kind of listening, doing a little bit of both. But I think that's the discouraging part when you're like, oh, we're working on it. We're getting better. Well, you're in week 10. How much longer do you need to work on it? And again, thankful for Cowboys fans should be thankful for Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb because those two are the reason why ultimately they won. To me, it's going to be until they can show they can actually beat teams with winning records then, yeah, sure, a win is a win, great, but put some wins together. And it's funny, even Lamb, and he admitted this after the game, as great as he was statistically, 195 yards receiving, had a couple of offensive pass interference calls. I can go back and forth on those, because as he said, he's being held on every play, and then he tries to break free, and he gets called. But I had a touchdown that would have been, had he just been more aware of his feet, that obviously did not end up being a touchdown. And then the fumble on that wacky play, where the defender thought he was down, he kept running, and then fumbled later. So just an uneven performance by an offense To put some big numbers on the board. And then there's this Overshawn thing. Let's look at that. After the Dallas defense came up with a big turnover in the fourth quarter, Cowboys again got the strangest of their 14 penalties. Linebacker Demarvion Overshown, unable to play because of an injury, came onto the field in street clothes to celebrate the official describing the penalty by describing what Overshawn was wearing. There he is. Did he forget that he wasn't suited up? I don't know. He took to social media, Overshawn did, to apologize for the boneheaded move. Schottenheimer says they had a stern discussion. And And I tend not to make a, you know, people look at the old days of Jimmy. Jimmy would have cut his ass on the plane on the way. You know, maybe he would have. But, man, this is one case where... And that's a guy who thinks he's not going to face any repercussions by his coach for doing that. I can't help but thinking that. I don't want to blame Schottenheimer for everything because you shouldn't have to remind a professional football player that if you're not in uniform, you shouldn't be on the field. But again, that's just a bad look from a culture standpoint, I think. And to me, it's all about optics. It looks so bad because it's the Cowboys and they're not having a good season right now. And one of their guys that's supposed to be a leader on defense, which I do think he is, I don't think that this negates that. But it's not a good look for one of your leaders on defense. And frankly, a player that's a really good player when he is healthy, but the problem is that he hasn't been. So it's just one of these things that's a bad look. Look, I'm just surprised. I'm surprised that it was him that did that, because he's like the last person that you would think would make an error like that. And that's the irony of it, and it opened him up to all sorts of jokes about, oh, finally he's healthy, and that's the healthiest he's looked all year. Right. I thought he'd have to go into the blue tent after running that hard, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, the overshown thing, just sort of a snapshot from a weird day. Yes, a win. Giants won also. Cowboys still two games back, now officially in the second half of the regular season. The Niners at 7-1 coming in Sunday here on Fox 4. Quickly, college football news. The playoff will expand as expected to 24 teams. teams. And I don't know, I don't have as much of a problem with it as I think you do. Do I remember correctly that you're really not a fan of this? I just think 12 is enough. And maybe it's because I'm an Iowa guy and we're always on the cusp of being there. I think it opens it up to more programs being a part of that playoff excitement. There'll be more games on campus now, playoff games too. I don't know, it just... I'll see, and if I'm wrong about it, I'll admit it. But I think ultimately it will just add even more excitement to the game. And especially with, I will say this, even though I wasn't a fan of it on the onset, that because of the state of college football right now with NIL, with the transfer portal, maybe in some ways it will make this thing open up a little bit more because teams will be more competitive and things like that. So we'll see if it's ultimately a good thing for the game. You in favor of it? You at home? Go to fox4news.com slash free for all or scan the QR code and we'll have the poll results tonight at 1030 on free for all on Fox 4. Mr. Matt Mosley talking cowboys with us when we come back. So Sam, while you were lounging on the beach, did you get some sun? I did actually. You can't tell right now, but I did. No, it looks good. Let's try. That's nice, that late summer or autumn sun now, of course. Perfect breeze. Down there, yeah, that's good stuff in Miami, Fort Lauderdale. Heard you had one of my favorites on. You're a fan of Matt Mosley. I am. Long-time DFW sports columnist and broadcaster. We talked Cowboys last night on Free For All. Matt Mosley is a longtime DFW-based sports writer, commentator, radio host. Currently, he hosts with Ed Werder the Doomsday Podcast. Matt, that's one of many ways that people can consume your fine work. Remind us of some of the others, if you would, as we get started here. Well, thank you, Mike. The YouTube world is 1 to 3. That's live, and then you can see that on demand. That's the Matt Mosley Show. And so you just subscribe on YouTube, and that's every day, 1 to 3 live. And then the Doomsday Podcast that I do with Ed Werder is after Cowboys games. And so that is, you can find that now on Apple or Google+. Wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and I appreciate you mentioning that. So I think that's the only things I'm involved with right now. Always good stuff. Always well worth your while to check that out. Cowboys do get out of Indy with a win. Not exactly a work of art today, but what struck you most about what you watched as this one unfolded in Indianapolis, Matt? Just that I think I was struck by... Drew Brees saying something along the lines of, well, at the very end of the half when they scored to make it, what, 17-7, say something along the lines of, the Cowboys have blown it open. And I wanted to be like, Drew, you have not watched much of this team. And there was a brief time when it looked like maybe we didn't know CD didn't get his foot down when it was 24-10. And I think most people who observe the Cowboys just automatically have that feeling of, oh, no, like this was the score against the Cardinals. So I think this is one of the, you know, there's been a lot over the last 30 years of teams you just can't really trust. I don't know. I mean, you know, this one has to be right up there. So there was never a moment where you're just like, oh, they have it or they're going to win it or whatever. This is this is not a very trustworthy team, but they did find a way. It is hard. You know, what really strikes me, Mike, is just to think about, generally you see a team with over 500 yards, sort of dominate the stats, even, you know, plus in the turnover category, you just kind of think, well, this should produce a certain score, and it did not, and so I just think this is not a great team at all, they don't really play complementary football, but they did win. And in this dreadful division, being four and five does not exclude you. From being involved in a playoff race. So I think that's the best I can offer is that they now sit two games behind a Giants team. They'll still have another game left against the Giants. And so you're never completely out of it in this dreadful division. Yeah, you talk about the offense and it being kind of an odd day and that their stats were so impressive. But they were sort of inefficient in a way as well. And just a snapshot of C.D. Lamb's day, 10 catches, 195 yards, tremendous day, right? But had the offensive pass interference penalties, had the fumble, as you said, had the touchdown that should have been but wasn't because he kind of got careless with his feet there. That was, I'm going to use a big word here, kind of a microcosm of what we saw from that Cowboys offense today, wasn't it, Matt? Yeah, it did feel like that, and it's almost kind of like we can't ever, and I'm never really able to straight praise this team, right, over the years, it feels like, but you really can't, because in the same breath you just said, 10 catches, 195 yards, like all the great things, you did have that weird fumble. After he made the heads-up play to get going again, and then the two OPIs, and while one of them, was a little strange and did not seem like something that would always get called. They were calling a ton of penalties today. Like, there were moments that you should have been aware, like, oh, I probably can't get away with anything today. Maybe, like, the first 13 penalties they called on you might have grabbed your attention. And it's like 14 penalties for about 150 yards. You know, You know, so there's just aspects of that game that were embarrassing. Including a player that was inactive, DeMarvion Overshawn, racing out onto the field to celebrate a takeaway with his teammates. And then I thought that was one of the great moments. Speaking of microcosm, that sort of feels like the Cowboys. I mean, I think, honestly, they were so shocked to see. DeMarvion overshown on the field that they just, it really gave him away and so the penalty was thrown and what a, what a, you know, another sort of comical moment with this team that even in winning. They, they sort of do it, you know, several embarrassing things. I half expected him to need to go to the blue tent after that, that moment on the, on the field with the defense, though, to be fair, there was a time this year, right? I didn't think they could be impressive against. Any offense, and this is the worst one they'll face all year, but to their credit, they held Taylor in check. They forced six three and outs. Quinnen Williams had a strong day, and Caleb Downs had a sack and an interception. So there were some good things for Christian Parker's defense. There were, and they won a game in which they did not have to score 30 points. They had the takeaways, you know, again, on the broadcast, you know, it was interesting to hear. Sometimes we hear these things, Mike, from the national guys say, well, Quinnen Williams has had an amazing one of the best seasons he's ever had. And I think we're kind of like, well. Sort of. I mean, he's had some good weeks here recently. I thought there was a theme earlier this year where he hadn't been very good in Christian Parker's defense. But the last couple of weeks, he's been really good. And I would say in the battle of the Downs brothers that Caleb Downs did win that and was better than his brother Josh Downs. And the parents had some kind of fun shirts on, a house united. It said, of Caleb and Josh Downs. But, I mean, I think that it's, like, good to get the win. It's... It's... It's embarrassing that a team that's trying to sell off all its players and has already been doing a pretty good job of it and their quarterback, one of their receivers and their star running back are all on the trade block right now. And their owner, by the way, we used to get on Jerry. Oh, he's down the sideline again. Well, their owner wears a headset and takes notes and is on a clipboard down there. And that's Jim Irsay, one of his daughters. That is one of the owners of the team, and so there's a lot of interesting things that happened. But back to Christian Parker's defense, I do think they did some good things. And I thought, you know, part of it was there just weren't so many breakdowns. Now, one of the guys who played well for a lot of the day, P.J. Locke. You know, on a couple of those big plays they made, missed tackles, and then, boy, they had a player that had played for a Division II school and had been a track star get loose down the sideline. There's always, even when you try to praise them, there seemingly is some sort of jailbreak play that happens. So, I would say... They did look better, and they did at least appear to be better coached in this game and didn't just completely get overmatched. So, yes, I do think it's probably appropriate to praise the defense to a certain extent. A few seconds left here with Matt Mosley. The trade deadline is Tuesday. What, if anything, do you do if you were Jerry Jones and company? Oh, I don't think you should, nor really can you. Thank you. You know, you already don't have many draft picks for next year. I don't think you, so you don't have a lot. Now, you can, like, dig into a following year, but I just, I look at the Cowboys, kind of what they have, and I look at the season that's unfolding, and unlike Amari Cooper, From the 2018 season when they were three and five, that team did feel like they were sort of one player, and that did make a difference, and that team went to the playoffs. I don't think we look at the defense or even look at the offense and go, they're one big deal from really getting over the hump and being a good team. For whatever reason, they're just not a very good team. So I don't, I think Jerry likes to talk about doing trades and he likes to give fans hope. I don't see anything happening and I don't see any one player being able to help this team that much. All right, Matt Mosley, the Doomsday Podcast is up, as the kids say, with Ed Werder and Matt, and we will look forward to hearing that. Matt, thanks as always for the time. Have a good week. Appreciate it. Mike, thanks for having me. He was a little disappointed that you weren't working last night. I wanted to see the stunner shades. Matt Mosley always wears them. Maybe next time. Maybe next time. And we'll wrap it up right after this. Right after this show on the Fox Local app, you'll see Cowboys Unfiltered with Jeff Kolb. Probably not the number of calls this week because they won the game, I'm guessing. Yeah, it seems like it trends well for Jeff when this team loses. But I'm sure there were some very charismatic Callers, right? There's still plenty to complain about. Here's some of what you'll see with Jeff next at 7.30. Did you guys know that people were calling for Shadi's job last week? I don't know if you, did we forget about that? Well, not really the case, of course, to the same extent after this Indy win. One lady may be a little bit too confident though, take a listen. And I just still believe that we have a shot with Shadi, as Mr. Jerry Jones said when he hired Brian Schottenheimer as our new head coach. I believe in you, Cowboys. I believe that you can win your next eight games. There's that Dallas delusion again. Eight games in a row, we're going to win them all. Playing host to this man, Kanye West. And so the comment here from, do you see the attribution here? Miserable Cowboys fan posts, this, my friend, do anything but fire Shadi. That's what MF is, right? That's what everybody tells me, my friend. Hello, my friend. We all know it's coming this way, Sunday. The Niners. This is appropriate. I'm just matching the video. Don't get concerned, Mike, Sam. You know, we were showing, God, I keep kind of foul-balling it on the first one. That's a little better. Back when the Cowboys beat Philly, we had all the videos of the Dallas fans just spanking the Philly fan. Well, I mean, we all know San Francisco has earned the right from recent history to say, hey, we're going to bully you again because they've won the four games in a row. But I know you guys must feel that if the Cowboys can pull this upset, that the Super Bowl hype is maybe a little more justified. I was kind of half paying attention to the segment, I look up and like, is Jeff taking his pants off? Where is this segment going with the belt? Yeah, that's a big if, if they beat the 49ers, a big, big, big if. Dallas as we speak, I think is only a four point underdog. I saw that, I saw that. I mean, change our minds win on Sunday. See you at 10.30.