Buccaneers shock Cowboys in Dallas, 24-16
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
32 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Oct 9, 2026
Published
Fri, October 9, 2026
13
Player insights
9
Players mentioned
Topics
Bucky IrvingDak PrescottGeorge PickensJalon DanielsCade OttonCeeDee LambChris GodwinJake FergusonTed Hurst
Player analysis
Player insights
Bucky Irving
PositiveUsage0:31
Irving had a huge run that led to a touchdown drive. The Cowboys' defense, specifically Hooker and D Winters, missed tackles in the hole on this play, with abysmal tackling allowing Irving to dance around the blitz and gain significant yardage. The play exemplified the Cowboys' defensive execution issues.
Insight pagePositiveRole24:00
Irving looks really good now that he's healthy again; the source identifies him as the primary explosive threat in the Buccaneers offense and notes his importance to the team's offensive viability going forward.
Insight pageCade Otton
NegativeRole24:48
Otton is not providing the explosive playmaking the Buccaneers offense needs; the source notes he can get to his spots and make decent plays moving the chains but lacks the pop required.
Insight pageCeeDee Lamb
NegativeMatchup0:53
Lamb was targeted on deep routes as part of the Cowboys' first-half offensive strategy against Tampa Bay's aggressive corner coverage. The source mentions throwing to CD as part of the Cowboys' attempts to attack the Buccaneers' defense with iso routes and deep concepts.
Insight pageChris Godwin
NegativeRole24:28
Godwin is not suited for the jet handoff role the Buccaneers are trying to use him in at this stage of his career; the source suggests this is not an effective use of his skill set.
Insight pageDak Prescott
NegativeRole5:59
Prescott seemed to be pressing and freaked out by how bad the Cowboys defense looked, leading to poor decision-making throughout the game. The Buccaneers' defense had the right answer for every play call Dallas tried, whether it was blitz looks or coverage schemes. Prescott had the wrong answer for what Tampa Bay was bringing on nearly every play through the first three and a half quarters, unable to find a foothold offensively.
Insight pageNegativeMatchup20:46
Prescott was flustered by Tampa Bay's blitz scheme in a way the source hasn't seen in years; despite season-long stats of 0.14 EPA per drop back against the blitz with 76% completion rate, he went 1-for-9 for 5-6 yards against the Buccaneers' aggressive defensive scheme. The source notes this level of disruption would have to date back to the first 2-3 years of his career.
Insight pageGeorge Pickens
PositiveMatchup0:53
Pickens had a deep stop route completion against the Buccaneers' aggressive corner coverage in the first half. The source notes this was an airtight throw and catch, with the observation that sometimes George Pickens and Dak Prescott are just going to make plays on you despite aggressive corner play.
Insight pageNegativeMatchup19:03
Pickens had an airtight completion against Jacob Parrish on the first drive of the Buccaneers-Cowboys game; the source notes that sometimes George Pickens and Dak Prescott are going to make plays like that against even strong defensive coverage.
Insight pageJake Ferguson
NegativeRole0:29
Ferguson had a critical drop on first down that led to a field goal instead of potentially a touchdown before halftime, and then dropped a potential pick-six late in the game that would have changed the outcome. The source notes Ferguson was one of the Cowboys' prioritized spending targets after deciding against Micah Parsons' future, making these drops particularly costly given his contract status.
Insight pageJalon Daniels
PositiveRole0:17
Daniels, an undrafted rookie starting his first road game on a short week, played more than well enough to win against the Cowboys. He deserves a lot of credit for his performance, with big plays and big moments throughout the game. The source notes he had the right answers against Dallas' defensive schemes and was able to execute effectively despite the circumstances.
Insight pagePositiveProjection26:38
Daniels won the starting job unexpectedly during training camp and delivered an impressive performance in his second career start on prime-time short week against the Cowboys; he went 8-for-8 to start the game and is the first undrafted rookie to do so in the Super Bowl era. His success rate ranks 10th among quarterbacks with at least 40 attempts, above Joe Burrow and Josh Allen, though the source notes the context and defenses are different. He had a 2.92 time to throw per Next Gen Stats against a 20% pressure rate.
Insight pageTed Hurst
PositiveBreakout25:10
Hurst is a potential source of explosive plays for the Buccaneers offense; the source mentions him as one of the few ways the offense can generate big plays beyond Bucky Irving.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Welcome to The Athletic Football Show brought to you by the U.S.
0:03Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card. I'm Robert Mays. Man, a lot to dig into with this Thursday night game.
0:09A tough performance from the Cowboys overall. The offense looking out of sorts, the defense continuing to really struggle, which we dug into.
0:15Man, I could not have been more wrong about how the Dallas defense would look.
0:19There's still a chance you turn it around. It's five games of a new coordinator, but it has been a tough, tough start.
0:26We talked about all the reasons that bleed into that.
0:29Some of the moments from this game, the Jake Ferguson dropped, the Todd Bowles decision to kick the field goal and not go up three scores.
0:36There's just so much to dig into. Let's get to it with me, Dave and Derrik right now.
0:41The game was a rich text. That's how I'll start this conversation.
0:44And I want to kick things off that way because I don't even know where to begin with what just happened.
0:50I think we can. There are two logical starting points.
0:53One, Jake Ferguson, you're killing me like you're killing me.
0:56The fact that Dallas still had a chance to go down and score a touchdown and potentially tie that game.
1:01The ball hits him in the face. It gets intercepted.
1:04The game is essentially over. Or we could start at Todd Bowles.
1:08You're killing me. You're killing me. The idea of not going up three scores and kicking that field goal with like nine minutes left in the game.
1:15But those are like moments. Those are specific moments in a game that requires a lot of big picture discussions.
1:21So I really I'm going to leave this to Dave.
1:24Dave, I want to know where you want to start this discussion.
1:27I thank you for saying so. And I won't I won't make a demand because we are a democracy and I am
1:33just one of three members of this show. So I will just humbly submit that we start this conversation by getting these guys the hell off the table.
1:41I'm totally fine with that. Here's my question. Do we just leave it open for now?
1:45It's Thursday. I don't think we have to fill the seat right now.
1:49We can wait until Sunday night. We can wait until Tyson Bajant goes for like three 80 on Sunday and then we'll figure it out.
1:56Brother, I would I'd put the bears. I would put the bears at the table sight unseen before I wanted to entertain the Cowboys right now.
2:03I'm totally fine taking them off. I'm totally fine taking them off at the end of Sunday.
2:08We'll decide who gets to go on. I think that that's not an issue whatsoever for me.
2:13I'm outvoted anyway, so it doesn't matter. I am not if only for like I'm not going to hold a.
2:19I know that this is a very bad loss.
2:21I'm not going to hold a Thursday night game this badly against the team that I still think their offense can be the best in the NFL.
2:29We just saw them play a really good game against the Ravens.
2:32They beat the shit out of the Houston Texans in the second half of that game.
2:37They are still a very flawed team, and I don't know if this defense is going to get better.
2:42I'm at least willing to hold the seat, but if I'm going to be outvoted two for one, it is it is what it is.
2:49And they're going to get moved. If the defense figures it out, I will.
2:53I will lobby for them to be back on.
2:55Look, and that's fine. If they do, then we'll lobby to put them back on.
3:00Yeah, I will. Listen, we'll talk about the defense.
3:02I think part of my enthusiasm for putting them on is I thought the defense might be surprisingly competent.
3:07That was always the thought, by the way, is that they might be surprisingly competent.
3:12They would have a chance to be like the 17th best defense in the league.
3:16That has not happened. And we can talk about why that hasn't happened.
3:19But because that hasn't come into focus, even if the offense is the best offense in football, the defense is bad enough.
3:26And the offense is clearly inconsistent enough where for now I'm fine doing this.
3:30And if we need to put them on back on a little bit later because the defense finds its footing and they
3:36feel like a different team over the course of the season.
3:39Fine. We have the ability to do that. But for now, I'm with Dave.
3:43You should be punished for what just happened. The way the way the defense is playing, even if the offense was perfect, it might not be good enough.
3:51And I this is totally vibes based in the moment.
3:53But like immediately after that 11 minute bucks drive at the start of this game, I found myself thinking Dax freaked out.
4:00Dak is freaked out by how bad this defense looks.
4:02And he's pressing. Dak is incredible against the blitz.
4:05He's like he's. Do you disagree? The defense wasn't that bad in the first half.
4:09The defense was actually fine for the most part in the first half.
4:13They gave up an 11 minute scoring drive to an undrafted rookie starting his first road game because they gave up a
4:19defensive holding penalty on a third down drive ending sack.
4:22Daron Bland was going to do that because they're bad.
4:25Yeah, they did it like five times tonight. I don't the defense.
4:28I don't think the defense was that bad in the first half.
4:31The run defense was actually looking pretty good in the first half.
4:35In the second half is when we had some issues.
4:37There is a lot happening with the defense and we can dig into it if you want to.
4:43I am fully willing to admit this has been out of sorts from the beginning.
4:47They've had a different set of problems seemingly every single game.
4:50I think that if you watch what happened to the defense today, there were not that many moments where you watch a
4:56call or you watch a choice schematically on a given play.
4:59And I'm like, what are you doing? There were a couple of them.
5:03The third and 20 is indefensible. Like indefensible on every single level to give that up.
5:07The call, the way they played the call. I mean, Bland is getting so much depth sitting there in quarters on that play.
5:14He lets Ibuka just sit down at the sticks.
5:16You bring it. That play is indefensible. For the most part, I think the defensive issues in this game are personnel and execution based.
5:23Bland falls. There were on the first three scoring drives.
5:26You had a sack that should have ended the drive where Bland gets called for a defensive hold.
5:31On the second scoring drive, you have just abysmal tackling on the Bucky Irving run.
5:35Just abysmal. You watch what Hooker and D Winters.
5:38And that's Bland, D Winters. And then we can talk about Rashawn Gary a little bit too.
5:42But Marcus Bell, like all three of those guys look unplayable right now.
5:46So you have two guys miss the tackle in the hole on the Bucky, huge Bucky Irving run that eventually leads to a touchdown drive.
5:53And on the third touchdown drive, Bland falls down.
5:55Like I think that overall, this is a combination of personnel deficiencies, still feeling a little bit out of sorts.
6:01And I think if you're going to put any of this on the coordinator and any of this on the coaching staff, they're playing incredibly slow up front.
6:09If you go back to Bland play, on the Bland play, I still don't understand exactly what was happening.
6:14Donovan as a Raku specifically, it just feels like his head is spinning.
6:18He's, I think, supposed to be running a stunt on that play, but he never even gets close to the line of scrimmage.
6:24So that to me is the problem. I think some of the execution, like the communication errors from the first couple games
6:31have actually been ironed out and look a lot better than they did.
6:34But the entire defense is just playing so, so slow.
6:37And when you combine that with the fact that they're banged up in a lot of places and the personnel wasn't even
6:43that good to begin with, you get a defense that looks like this right now.
6:47I mean, I don't really disagree with that, but I just don't know what they are doing defensively that is supposed to make up for any of this.
6:55Like, I mean, like you said, I just don't think that they're playing fast.
6:59I don't think it's so passive. It's so passive.
7:02It's like, I just don't get it. This is the problem with every Fangio guy is they come in and they're like,
7:08I'm just going to do what the base calls are supposed to be.
7:11And it always feels too slow, too passive. Things are not going well.
7:15And sometimes some of those guys can figure it out.
7:18You know, I think we've seen that at some point, but usually early on with these guys, it takes a while.
7:24I will say on the other end, in terms of like shooting themselves in the foot, because I think execution wise and
7:30some of the penalties, the Dallas Cowboys defense absolutely did that in the first half, though.
7:34There was a drive where the Bucs were driving, got to midfield and they get into the third and one.
7:40They're trying to go fast. Tristan Wurst goes off or gets a false start.
7:44And then on the ensuing third and six, Jalen Daniels, there's a throw open to the left that they scheme up like
7:50with a little bit of like a bunch. A bunch thing.
7:53And he just doesn't see it. He gets, I think, scrambles for like one yard and it's fourth and five.
7:59And then the Bucs don't know what the hell they're doing.
8:02They don't know if they want to punt. They don't know if they want to kick.
8:06They don't want to go. They try to kick.
8:09They don't end up getting a snap off in time.
8:12And so it was like even they had a little bit of like kind of shooting themselves in the foot in a
8:18situation where I did think they were driving and we're going to go and put points on the board.
8:23And Al Michaels said on the broadcast that that kick was short.
8:27But I talked to multiple people in this stadium who said they thought it was made, by the way.
8:32So like that whole that whole fiasco, I guess I don't know for sure because I wasn't there.
8:37But I think it might have cost the Bucs points.
8:40So, I mean, coupling that with the decision to go for the touchdown instead of kicking, which Todd Bowles is so famous for being so conservative.
8:47And the one time I was like, I don't know, man, three score lead under like five minutes.
8:52Like this feels right to me. You got a rookie quarterback.
8:55Like, I don't think we need to overthink this.
8:58But they got away with it largely. And I hear your point, Robert.
9:01I think there's validity to that. I'm not like calling for Christian Parker's job, but Deron Bland signed a $90 million contract.
9:08Not only did he fall down on that explosive, he dropped a potential pick six that changes the way this game ends.
9:14And I do. I'm feeling a little petty because that game was so ridiculous.
9:18Deron Bland and Jake Ferguson are two of the guys the Cowboys prioritized to spend their money on after deciding Micah Parsons wasn't in their future.
9:25And this is what you get. Like Ferguson selling not just in the not just at the end of the pick, obviously,
9:31but a drop on first down that leads to a field goal instead of potentially getting a touchdown before half.
9:37And then, I mean, Deron Bland is he's like borderline unplayable just as an NFL cornerback.
9:41The fact that he is like one of your big contract guys is it's it's incredibly depressing if you're the Cowboys.
9:47I mean, you have to find a way to overcome that.
9:50I don't know how. But like, you know, if Reddy Stewart had fallen down on that play, I'm like, well, you're like, that's Reddy Stewart.
9:57What are you going to do? This is supposed to be like the tentpole of your secondary.
10:02And the fact that that's the caliber of play you're getting from these guys is absolutely brutal.
10:07There's so many it's coming from so many different directions.
10:10I think Christian Parker deserves a ton of culpability in this.
10:13I was extremely wrong about how good this would look, at least early.
10:16I'm with you. As a young coordinator, we're five games in and the personnel.
10:20It was always going to be a tough needle to thread with the personnel.
10:24Like and the fact that the personnel was always going to be middle of the pack at best.
10:29And I thought they might be lifted by the scheme.
10:32Well, now you're banged up. Jalen Thompson isn't playing.
10:35You traded for Joey Porter. He doesn't play in this game.
10:38And it's a combination of you don't have all the guys you thought you would have.
10:42Even the plan has had to change because now Caleb Downs is playing safety because you're banged up.
10:47You're having to move around those pieces. And the guys you've invested real money in are some of your biggest offenders at this point.
10:54Like Bland looks borderline unplayable. When Joey Porter gets back, I think you have to have a real conversation about whether he
11:00should be one of your starting outside corners. I don't think that's unreasonable at this point.
11:05And the other guy that they invested a ton in this offseason, you talk about butterfly effect stuff from the Micah Parsons trade.
11:11What is Gary doing for you? What is he doing for you?
11:14He can't rush the passer. He can't stop the run.
11:17And so you have these guys that you've really invested in.
11:20And they're some of your biggest defenders at this point.
11:23And so you're not getting lifted schematically. Everyone's playing extremely slow.
11:26Your personnel was you're already trying to just kind of get by and be a middle of the pack group.
11:32And now the bottom has fallen out of that.
11:34Everybody deserves blame here. I'm fully willing to admit that this has not gone the way that I thought it was going to go.
11:41But when you think about the injuries combined with the play that you're getting from some of your highest paid players, there's
11:47a lot of blame to be passed around with this thing.
11:50You already made this point. But man, watching the Cowboys rush and blitz and especially contrasted with what the Bucs were doing.
11:57100 percent. I totally agree with that. Think about watching as a rock who compared to watching David or David Walker in this game.
12:03Just think about that. Think about the contrast between those two players specifically and how different that looks.
12:08It's crazy. I'm like Rashawn Gary looked like he was running on on the beach in this game.
12:13It was it was tough. And on the Bucky Irving run, Herbstreet, Kirk Herbstreet pointed this out on the broadcast.
12:19Like Jay Sean Barham blitzed up the A-gap on that play and Graham Barton just kind of caught him.
12:24He was like, oh, that's cool. That's what you're going to do.
12:28That's cool. Like, that's not a problem for me.
12:30It just it didn't look remotely dangerous from the word go.
12:33And Bucky Irving just kind of danced around it.
12:36It like it. It was so slow. Like everything about their efforts to get after the football were so slow.
12:41Barham has been good. Barham, especially as a run defender.
12:44I would agree for the most part. Yeah, he's far away from the issue.
12:48Go watch Dean Winter. Don't go watch Dean Winters on that play.
12:52Oh, I mean, that answer that has been it's been so bad.
12:55After so bad, after Bucky danced around the blitz, it was like Keystone Cops like you saw or like it was like watching Tom and Jerry.
13:02Where you were like the guys just dive into the cloud of debris and Jerry like skirts out the side like it abysmal, abysmal defense.
13:09We talked about this when I was trying to I was just coping so hard after the week one game against the
13:15Giants and I will continue to do so. We talked about how defenses have turned things around early in the season under
13:22first year coordinators and how sometimes you need like a pretty dramatic shift in order to make that back happen.
13:27This team needs to pressure more and play more man.
13:30They have to be it's as a way to potentially get more out of your corners who are more comfortable playing this way.
13:36If it's bland and Porter on the outside, this is how you should play like you're you have so few answers.
13:42I think you have to play this way. And I also think some of their best moments when you watch the front
13:48are when they're just letting those guys go. Just let them go.
13:52And if you're Williams, you have to like you.
13:54I think you have to start playing that way if you're going to dig yourself out of this, because to me, it's
14:01the only antidote to how passive they look overall.
14:03And I think it's potentially a path for you to get better play on the back end.
14:08The Eagles last year blitzed and played a lot of man coverage like that is in the bag if you want to
14:14start going to it based on your personnel. And I truly think that might be the only thing that's going to save
14:20them because I watch the way the front is playing right now.
14:24And everyone, you just feel the gears turning. That to me is where the coaching shows up.
14:28I don't think there are a ton of like really terrible coverage busts in this game.
14:33Your biggest incompletion that you gave up as a guy falling down.
14:36But you just feel how held back everyone is right now, especially with the front.
14:40And I just don't think you can get by playing that way.
14:44And your coverage has to be so good and so complete on the back end.
14:48And it just isn't. They're just not right now.
14:50They need to play more like the Patriots are trying to play more like the Chiefs have tried to play this year.
14:57The Rams are trying to play this way where it's a little bit more man coverage and blitz stuff like they.
15:03That is probably the mode that they need to get into, which I kind of had concerns about coming in where I
15:09was like, I don't know if you guys can play the Fangio style of defense that you want to play.
15:14And I think it's obviously been even worse than I would have imagined because I was probably with you.
15:20I could have. I thought they could have got to 22nd in DVOA and been like totally competent, not good.
15:25But you can get by. They feel like they are still very far from that.
15:29But I think the two biggest dominoes in that, in my opinion, are you look at Bland, you look at the contract,
15:36you think, oh, this is a better situation. Maybe he'll be OK.
15:39And it's been the opposite of that. I mean, he's been part of the problem.
15:43And when if that that's as far in terms of expectations about what a guy would be, I don't I never had high hopes about Duran Bland.
15:51But I think you look at that spot and you're like, oh, well, they have a corner there.
15:56They'll that'll be OK. And then that didn't happen.
15:58And you lose again, you lose Jalen Thompson, you lose Kobe Durant, you lose kind of the connective tissue guys in the
16:05secondary that were supposed to make this thing feel decent, capable.
16:08And it just hasn't felt that way at all.
16:10And I think you need a drastic left turn if you're going to try to salvage this thing, because right now I
16:16don't know what else the answer would be. If you're trying to take a 30,000 foot view, it is it's a it's
16:22a valid point that like, I mean, Durant and P.J.
16:25Locke and Jalen Thompson. P.J. Locke, too. Yeah. Yeah.
16:28Whatever whatever happened with Joey Porter. I mean, he was not expected to miss this game.
16:32That was like a surprise scratch an hour before kickoff or 90 minutes before kickoff.
16:37And so, yeah, when all those guys are available, might this look better?
16:40Yes. But did they have enough to not look like that against Jalen Daniels?
16:44Yes. Absolutely. Unquestionably. Yes. Especially up front. Like it just there's no excuse for what the front looks like right now.
16:50Like I'm at a spot where I want to see more Malachi Lawrence and I want to see this team play with
16:56a little bit more reckless abandon and how they're treating some of those situations.
17:00Like unless that starts happening, I think we're going to be in a bad way.
17:04All right. Before we move on, let's take a quick break.
17:07I don't want to remove all blame from what the offensive performance looks like in this game.
17:12And on that side, again, I think Jalen Daniels deserves a lot of credit for coming in on the road short week
17:18undrafted rookie and playing more than well enough to win.
17:21I mean, he had some big plays and big moments.
17:24I don't want this to be all about the Cowboys.
17:27Because I'll say in terms of which unit I really want to heap a lot of praise on with the Bucs, their defense controlled this game.
17:34Defense was awesome. They controlled this game. And I can't remember, Derek, I'm sure, I'm not sure if you can either.
17:40And Dave, you've seen him play a million games.
17:42When's the last time we saw Dak like that?
17:45Where it just seemed like they had the wrong answer.
17:48Yes. No matter what the Bucs were doing. And that, to me, was the most impressive part of this is that it's
17:54easy to be like a face-melting blitz team and catch teams in the wrong moments sometimes.
17:58But the amount of simulateds, the first interception, right?
18:01Their plan, we got to get the ball out quick.
18:04They're going to heat us up. Instead, they run a simulated.
18:07They drop the two edges off the back. I think it was Walker maybe again who was in the passing lane on that play.
18:14Gets tipped, gets intercepted. And that ball's coming out fast because they think there's pressure coming.
18:18Instead, they're bringing four and you're wrong on the choice that you're making.
18:22And it seemed like through the first three, three, three and a half quarters, that's exactly where the Cowboys offense was.
18:28That every single time they had the wrong answer for whatever bowls in that defense were going to be bringing.
18:33And they were just trying to find a foothold the entire game and couldn't do it.
18:38I think what was so impressive to me about that is it felt like for the first half ish, you were getting a lot of these.
18:45You know, Tampa was doing some of the double mug stuff.
18:48And Dallas was initially trying to block it up.
18:51And then let's throw 11 to 20 yard iso routes.
18:53Let's hit George Pickens on a deep stop route.
18:56Let's throw one to CD, all this sort of stuff.
18:59And the corners were playing so aggressive. They were not driving on that deep comeback.
19:03They were all over that stuff. Parrish had a couple to like the corners.
19:07They're not. Let's talk about Jacob Parrish. He had what, four breakups in this game?
19:11Like he was phenomenal. And even the first completion he gives up to Pickens on the first drive, that is airtight.
19:17And that's just sometimes George Pickens and Dak are going to do that to you.
19:21But I thought so that was how, you know, Dak and the Cowboys were trying to handle the blitz at first.
19:27And then it felt like in the second half they were like, all right, blocking it up and throwing the shot ish plays, the intermediate stuff.
19:34That's not working. We're going to try to go quick.
19:37And then you get that play where that's happening.
19:40And then you had another, I think it was a third or a fourth down later in the game where they're trying
19:46to throw hot to the left hand side because Tampa is showing this like seven man on the line of scrimmage.
19:52Look, Josiah Trotter slowly creeps off the line of scrimmage.
19:55He doesn't just pop and fly out where Dak would see it.
19:58He like slow plays, takes a beat, and then he flies, undercuts it.
20:02Dak has to throw it high. It's an incompletion.
20:04Like, I just think it's not even just the calls that they're getting in.
20:08It's seeing how well Walker is passing off three to get to two and drive on it.
20:13It's seeing how Josiah Trotter is adding this little bit of nuance where he's slow playing it so then he can get
20:19under and get a hand on it late. It's the little coaching details in it on top of what I was saying
20:25with the corners in the first half where it's like, this is what the Todd Bulls defense should be.
20:30You play well enough against the run. You get into these downs and you melt people's faces with this stuff.
20:36They did just the upper hand the entire game.
20:39It just the upper hand the entire game. It was an incredibly impressive performance by the coaching staff and the guys that were bringing that thing to life.
20:46That's what I was the point I was going to make earlier is like Dak's been he's not like he hasn't been
20:53incredible against the Blitz, but like his numbers this year have been really good.
20:57It's like 0.14 EPA per drop back against the Blitz completing 76 percent of his passes.
21:01Last time I looked before I logged on, he was like one of nine against the Blitz for like five or six yards or something like that.
21:09Like to to the point you made, I just I don't remember the last time I saw him that flustered by what somebody was throwing at him.
21:16It would it would have to be like within the first two or three years of his career if I had to guess.
21:23And as long as we're heaping praise on the Bucks defense, I can't say I'm surprised because Todd Bowles does no defense and and knows blitzes.
21:30They know what to do with Keontae Scott, too, by the way, like they have they absolutely had the right idea for Keontae Scott.
21:37And man, I I'm not like I don't have a sweeping take on Reuben Bain.
21:41He just got back from injury like he missed the last two games anyway, whatever.
21:45But Keontae Scott and Josiah Trotter, independent of whatever Reuben Bain's got going on, like you got to be thrilled about those guys if you're a Bucks fan.
21:53And Techie Smith was a demon as a blitzer in this game, too.
21:57I mean, they just were all got a hand on the ball.
22:00They're not like they're I really like this defense.
22:03I don't know what the numbers look like right now.
22:05And like, I mean, I look amazing. I mean, they've been a top five defense by EPA per play.
22:11I mean, I think it's just one of those.
22:13It's the first month of the season. Is this real?
22:16What what is real? But you watch a performance like tonight and it's like, man, this is they're locked in right now.
22:22Alex Anzalone has had a rough start to the year, but like everything else about the Bucks defense, I'm I'm pretty in on.
22:29I like the way it looks. And Antoine Winfield didn't even play tonight.
22:32Right. And Benjamin Morrison is not out there helping them like in the secondary like this.
22:37I think Todd Bowles at this stage in his career is a fine to solid defensive mind and is maybe not as
22:43like electric as he had been five, six years ago.
22:46But I just continue to look at this defensive roster.
22:49I'm like they feel too talented to not make it work.
22:52And I would even say this year, like Zion McCollum is playing better football than I've ever seen him play.
22:57I think the safeties are playing really, really well.
23:00Josiah Trotter is about as good as you can reasonably hope a second round rookie is going to be.
23:05Like I just I'm excited about where this is going to go.
23:08They're still going to be Robert. You've mentioned it before.
23:11Sometimes late in the season, the Todd Bowles defenses just fall apart.
23:15But if they can be good enough for the next eight weeks that this team can crawl back to like 500 respectability
23:21for now, that's all you're hoping for in the middle of an NFL season.
23:25And I do think that that's possible. I wonder if the offense is going to have that gear.
23:30That's that's that's the thing I keep coming back to.
23:33I worry about it. A lot of things. Yeah.
23:35When you're when you're not playing the worst defense in the NFL, what is that going to look like?
23:40I still think I mean, Bucky looks really good.
23:43The fact that he's healthy with that offensive line, I do think there's a path forward potentially for the run game.
23:49I just wonder outside of a book like who are the past game threats on this team?
23:54And how do we feel about the quarterback in a situation that might be fine over the course of the season, but isn't explicitly good?
24:01Like the circumstances that he's playing in in this offense with Zach Robinson, like what can you reasonably expect to get from
24:07Baker coming back from injury in a couple of weeks?
24:10But the defense, I don't really have reason to think they can't keep them in games if they continue to play this way.
24:16I wish they had one more player where when they have the ball, I'm scared of them.
24:21Like, but he's got some pop. Like when he's healthy, he does have a little bit of that.
24:26But like, that's not really what Emeka Ibuka does.
24:28Like they're trying to do some of this jet handoff stuff with Chris Godwin.
24:32And at this stage in his career, that's not really what he is like.
24:36K-Dotten from Tita, and that's not really what he is.
24:39And so they have guys who are like fine and can get to their spots, can make some decent plays moving the chains.
24:46But the pop in the offense, like other than Bucky Irving, it's like you're hoping that you hit one of the Ted
24:52Hurst go balls or something like that. And that just doesn't feel like enough.
24:56That was the name I was going to mention.
24:58Like over the course of the season, can he somebody, can he be somebody that gives you some explosive plays?
25:04Like I, again, I think right now I would have long-term concerns about the passing game, but the offensive line is still filled with good players.
25:11Bucky looks really good now that he's healthy again.
25:14And can you eventually find enough in that area when Baker gets healthy to make yourself relevant in the NFC South?
25:19I'm not, I was going to say, I don't think that ship has sailed yet.
25:24It's a 1050 on a Thursday. We're making pirate jokes, but yeah, I go for it.
25:28I'm not sure the ship has sailed for Tampa quite yet, but I, I still think it's a pretty narrow path in
25:34part because the other teams in the NFC South look pretty good.
25:38Yeah. The Panthers office looks good. The Falcons are, the Falcons just are more of a, an impediment that you might've thought coming into the year.
25:45I give the NFC South is what we thought the NFC South was going to be coming into the season.
25:51And we just watched this Bucks team at one and four and everyone else is two and two at best.
25:56It's like, okay, maybe, but I just think overall the quality of division is just probably better than we thought it was going to be.
26:03And not because the saints are good, which is very funny.
26:06I, I do. I agree with the premise. I do think, I think the NFC South is, is better than we probably gave it credit for.
26:14And I think at least some of the stuff we're seeing is real ish, but you know, I was listening to the
26:20show you did with Deontay on the feed this week.
26:23And we don't know yet. We don't know anything.
26:25Like I'm not willing to like write in Sharpie that the Panthers and Falcons are like definitely good teams.
26:30I did, but I do, I do think, I mean, just by virtue of the fact that they're one in four, that
26:37is a hell of a steep hill to climb.
26:39And especially when we, we don't have a timetable for Baker yet.
26:43I mean, I do, I want to say one more time.
26:46It is incredibly cool that Jalen Daniels won this job unexpectedly during training camp, played the Packers tough in his debut and then won this game.
26:53And like they said, he, he started eight of eight in this game and is the first undrafted rookie to do so in the Superbowl era.
27:00Like some really cool shit. Like good, good for you, Jalen Daniels.
27:04I don't know if it means the bucks are going to win the NFC South, but it's pretty damn cool.
27:09He can clearly play. I mean, you watch him.
27:12He is an NFL player. He is, he's not out of his depth at all.
27:16And again, even if you want to say that the Cowboys defense is reeling right now, it absolutely is.
27:21But I, you can still against a reeling defense still look like you're not made for this or you're, you're not, you're, you don't belong out there.
27:29He absolutely does. I mean, what he's been able to do with his legs, a couple of throws he made the best.
27:35I mean, even being willing to try that whole shot that bell ends up breaking up.
27:39I mean, that is a good ball. Like that's very close to being completed in a ridiculous way.
27:45And so I agree. I mean, it's, he clearly belongs out there.
27:48He's got a lot of juice to him and it's a great story.
27:52And it was fun to watch. He's a gamer.
27:54Like he just does stuff. And, and like, he's just, even like when you can tell he doesn't know what he's seeing yet, or there's a blitz.
28:02He's like so fast to just be like, all right, screw it.
28:05Pull the rip cord. I'm going to go. And he, I just, he's like a good enough athlete to do that.
28:11The thing I want to say, like, because I think some of the eye test stuff is pretty impressive for him, especially again, UDFA.
28:18This is your second start ever. It's prime time short week.
28:21This is obviously a really small sample among quarterbacks with at least 40 attempts.
28:25He would be 10th in success rate right now.
28:27It's above Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. And obviously like what they're asking those quarterbacks to do is way different.
28:33It's very different defenses, but like he's, he's moving the ball, man.
28:36We know what it looks like when a guy winds up in this situation and he's not ready for it.
28:42Like it looks like Cooper. Yes. Yeah. Like even if, even if that's fake and like, it is obviously like Jalen Daniels
28:48is not better than Joe Burrow or some of those other guys.
28:51But even if it's fake, that's incredibly impressive. Yeah.
28:54Yeah. I'm looking at the numbers right now. Well, Jalen Daniels had a 2.92 time to throw per next gen and the
29:00Cowboys finished with a 20% pressure rate. Can't happen.
29:03Tough. Can't happen. And it's to me that, that was the thing that really jumped out today is that there were a
29:09couple of slips in the back end, but just how passive and just how little you feel the front in passing situations is.
29:15It really did come back to just completely torpedo them today.
29:18How many more draft picks is Jerry Jones willing to part with between now and November 1st?
29:23Ah, ah, Cleo Mack, come on down. I've, I've, I've, I've heard worse ideas after watching that play pretty well.
29:29I'll tell you what. I've, I've heard worse ideas.
29:31I mean, it's the one play. Go look at the, I can't, I think it was like an 11 yard run for
29:37Bucky in the second half, which was, again, it was like not the, one of the biggest plays, but it was one
29:43of their successful runs when they didn't have a ton in the first half.
29:47The movement that Luke Kadecki gets on Von Miller on that play and how large the C gap looks on that play.
29:54That can't, that's, that can't happen. You're not winning for Williams.
29:57We got some, some different guys need to be getting some different snap counts on the edge right now for the Cowboys,
30:03whether they're in the building or they're not. But we'll have a long time to talk about that.
30:08We can revisit it on Sunday when we talk about the fact that the Cowboys are no longer at the table and they have to be replaced.
30:15We'll just, maybe by Sunday night, we'll just put them back on depending on how everybody else disappoints us.
30:21I don't know. We don't have to do this now in terms of like who the real contenders are, but I think
30:27there's absolutely a chance by the time Sunday wraps up, we have teams that we feel better about than Dallas.
30:33And I, I'm glad you said that Dave, because I, again, I do think that like, it's just so hard to make
30:39any sort of proclamations in after four or five, after four weeks, even after five weeks.
30:43Like it, just think back to some of the stuff we said five weeks into last season, even halfway into last season.
30:49We do that every single year. It's just the nature of the beast.
30:53It's more so, I think the way to frame it right now is who do you feel better about, right?
30:59Do you feel better about X team or this team?
31:01And that's kind of stuff being surprising. And in the NFC South, I think that's what I go back to.
31:07It's like, even with, in terms of offenses, who do you feel better about right now?
31:12The Panthers offense, the Falcons offense, or the Bucs offense?
31:14Like who's third in that pecking order? The Bucs by a lot.
31:18It's probably the Bucs. And that's just, and that's, that may change basically as we get new information and as the season unfolds.
31:24But right now, that's, I think, where I land with it as well.
31:28And kind of a weird place to be considering what the heights we, think about like where we were at the end
31:34of the 2024 season with the Bucs offensive infrastructure compared to a couple of those other teams.
31:39I mean, it does feel very different than our expectations.
31:42And I think that to me is why I would push back on the idea that even at one and four, the
31:48Bucs can maybe force themselves back into the discussion here.
31:51All right. That is all we've got for Thursday Night Football.
31:54We will be back on Sunday. If you're listening to this on the podcast feed, the week five preview is available for
32:00you guys to listen to right now. If you're watching this on YouTube on Friday, that will be available at about 12 p.m.
32:06Central. Really encourage you guys to check that out for now.
32:09That's all we got. Appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you very soon.
