RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys

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You can do this when you Angie that. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. RJ, how are you? I'm doing well.

Thanks for having me. Definitely a good welcome back to normal football operations for the Dallas Cowboys. Normal football operations for the Dallas Cowboys.

Well, I guess my first question. We heard Jerry Jerry Jones is all in on what making everybody sweat this season. Is that what he was referring to? Yeah, I mean, you know, Jerry obviously made sure to it was really a play to his kind of press conference. You know, for anyone who's unaware, there are two press conferences every year for the Cowboys that that are a little bit more valuable than than the others.

And one is the one proceeding the NFL draft and the other is the one that opens training camp. And in today's Jerry actually referenced the other not by saying all in but talking about the leaves falling, which was the line he had then. I mean, he was all over the place. It was really kind of difficult to discern exactly what he was saying. I've obviously, you know, covered and transcribed a lot of these things in my day. And this was among the more confusing in terms of what we were supposed to actually take away from it.

And for context, in terms of how weird and off the wall it was at one moment in time. The Cowboys head of PR had to remind the crowd or had to literally say, does anybody have any questions for Mike McCarthy? Again, this was literally taking place before the football practice. So it is a business and a show first oftentimes and a football team second. RJ, a show where is he with us?

The JR support reef show? Yeah, I saw Mike McCarthy sitting on the stage with his black shades on. Is this what we can expect for the rest of the season? We know Mike McCarthy is a lame duck coach. He's out here dangling in the wind for the rest of the season. What can we expect from Mike McCarthy? Is he going to let it loose? What's the deal here? I will say, you know, I don't take offense to the lame duck thing, but I just don't agree with that because that isn't Mike McCarthy's style.

He is a bit of a Frank Sinatra, you know, kind of go out my way type of person. I don't think that, you know, look, a year ago he got rid of Kellen Moore and believed that he could, you know, make things better and make an offense that had been really, really, really good throughout Kellen's tenure. You know, he thought he could make it better. And you know what?

Nobody wants to talk about nationally. He was right. He was completely and totally right. And Kellen floundered in L.A. and all we want to say is, oh, well, everybody got hurt.

Right. And so we don't give Mike his props in that sense. You know, when the Cowboys season ended and obviously was super embarrassing, he had a line that I thought was really impressive. He said that obviously they take responsibility, they being the current team for what they've done over the last few years, but that they don't take responsibility for the entire drought that the organization is facing. And so in that sense, I mean, McCarthy is not your prototypical lame duck Dallas Cowboys head coach. He's not just going to, you know, sign up to go down with some sort of ship. I do. You know, he's the captain of the ship in Armageddon that's going to run into the meteor in the name of saving the earth type thing.

And so I don't know what that ultimately yields. I don't know what that looks like, but but I do know that he's the kind of guy who doesn't go down staring at strike three. R.J. Ochoa is here with us. Covers the Dallas Cowboys for blogging the boys. Having said that, when you take a look at what the Dallas Cowboys have done and what they have in over this past offseason, what is their biggest move? It can't be bringing back Zeke, can it?

It's it's among the contenders. I mean, if we are measuring the moves, I mean, you could argue that it was signing Eric Hendricks. That was kind of their their big free agency acquisition.

No offense to Eric. You could argue that it was hiring Mike Zimmer to be the new defensive coordinator, although they were they were forced to find somebody new, given that Dan Quinn obviously left for the commanders. And so, I mean, that's the story. That's that's all anybody rightfully wants to talk about these days is how they haven't gotten anything done. They talk today about how they still need more time. And I think that there is some confusion on that, you know, because the easy joke is, oh, well, you've had an entire offseason to do it.

Why do you still need more time? And that's true. Don't get me wrong. But they've had longer than that. They've had over a year they've had since last offseason to be able to take care of Jack, to be able to take care of CD. And they haven't. And I understand that some people are kind of sick of this topic and just want to move on and just want to get to the football of it all.

But I mean, this is the story you're talking about. Arguably the three best players on the team. And Jack Prescott, CD Lamb and Micah Parsons, all in contractual stalemates with the team in varying sort of ways. And the Cowboys are really fortunate that CD is the only one holding out that Jack Prescott and Micah Parsons are playing ball with them, so to speak, because if they wanted to, they could make this a lot more complicated in their own right. Well, RJ, we heard from Dak Prescott a few hours ago, he was very open and honest, not just about football, but about life and putting things into perspective. Do you think he's going to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback into the future?

I do. I mean, I remain, you know, positive in that idea, although I certainly did not think that we would get to day one of training camp in Oxnard, you know, with this kind of still hanging over everybody's head. So in that sense, I mean, it's more likely that he isn't than I ever would have initially thought. And I'll say, too, I mean, if you if you listen to everything that said today, there was a little bit of attitude, which isn't a bad thing, right? Like, I think you kind of want your quarterback, your point guard to have a little bit of a cutting nature to him. But it did sound a little bit like somebody who was checked out. And I'm not trying to make any kind of mountain out of a molehill, but look, it's exhausting being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys in general. Right. Like any offseason, it's exhausting, let alone one where everyone's talking about your contract, where everyone's talking about your team and how you had this disappointing playoff loss.

I do think that it's probably good for them to get, you know, into camp and be able to turn off the outside noise. But if I had to bet right now, I mean, I'm I'm quadrupling down that he's going to be the franchise quarterback beyond 2024. But again, we're well past where I thought we'd ever get. Well, RJ, you think about the big three is, as you just mentioned, whether it's Micah and C.D. and Dak, can they pay all three of these dudes and for all three of them to be happy? They can. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not acting like this is easy and that you can get this done. And, you know, in an hour, this, you know, it maybe isn't quite as complicated as setting up your recruiting class in the new college football game.

But it's up there. And I mean, the reality of the situation is it's not as complicated as they want everybody to believe that it is. And that's where I think the genesis of the frustration lies for for the fan base. Because, you know, if you were jumping in in front of a TV and actually a camera behind a microphone 20 years ago and you're saying, well, the cap, the cap, the cap. I think, you know, most average shows probably buy what you're saying. But today, today's average fan is so educated and has access to so much information and so many resources and listen to shows like yours. Then they know things, you know, that you you can't get things past people. And so today, as one example, Stephen said that to sign them would would take up the three of players you mentioned, obviously would take up 75 percent of their salary cap. And I mean, again, I don't I don't have complete access to the Cowboys books, but that's a lie.

That's just a complete and total fabrication. And again, anybody with access to over the cap dot com can kind of realize that. And so they have the capability. They they have the technology. They can do it. It's just a matter of deciding to do their job. Yeah, I mean, damn, I go back if I start doing math, I go 55 to 60.

The other two dudes are probably clocking at about 70 per. That's a lot of money, RJ, for 12 and five seasons. And that's totally true.

Don't get me wrong. But that's that's where not being proactive has burned them, because I mentioned they could have done back at the beginning of last offseason. And of course, if you trace things back, the first to get a quarterback done with a long term contract last year. So after the twenty twenty two season with the Eagles and Jalen Hurts coming off that MVP caliber season, obviously where they lost the Super Bowl and they came in at fifty two million dollars per year. And I mean, now if I told you right now they get back at 52, you're thinking that's a steal.

Do it. And guess what? If if you do a deal in a year and a half, it's going to look like a steal because that's the way the market works. And if they've been proactive with CD, they're probably getting him for somewhere around twenty five million dollars last year.

But instead, they dragged their feet, they waited and he turned in literally the most impressive statistical season that any player has ever had or any receiver has ever had, excuse me, in franchise history. And so, yeah, now you've got to pay more money. That's the reality. I don't care if you're buying a house, if you're buying a car, if you're trading Pokemon cards with your friend down the street.

The reality of the situation is you have to live and abide by the laws of supply and demand. R.J. Ochoa is here with us from blogging the boys when it comes to the actual performance on the football field. We know the Washington is trying to go on its way up with the former defensive coordinator and Dan Quinn, the New York Giants trying to figure out what Daniel Jones is. The Eagles are trying to steady the ship back to a Super Bowl. What can we expect from the Dallas Cowboys on the field? Another 10 to 12 wins and a Packers beat down or forty nine is beat down.

What's going to be different, if anything? I mean, it's strange because I obviously have been a bit negative in our conversation so far. But, you know, if you told me the over under was nine and a half, I'm easily taking that over. If you told me with 10 and a half, I still probably am.

I mean, that's kind of right past my point of comfortability. They are one of the better teams in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers had that quote.

What was it? Eight to 12 teams can win the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are absolutely in that mix.

And again, where I think Mike McCarthy doesn't get proper credit just because it's easy to kind of dump on him. There is one team, a singular team in the NFL that has won more regular season games than them over the course of the last three years. And I obviously fully recognize that's the regular season and blah, blah, blah. But that team is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys have more regular season wins since 2021 than the Niners and the Bengals and the Bills and the Ravens and the Packers and the Eagles. I mean, and we're sitting here, we're counting them out. And again, this is, you know, a matter of you've got to do it.

You've got to prove it to us. And I think right now the kind of, you know, hot comparison for the Cowboys is I don't know how big of a golf thing you are. But Zander Shafley, who just won the open championship forever, if you don't follow golfer, your listeners or audience doesn't. Zander was the best guy, the best player in the world without a major win.

He couldn't get it done. And now he won two of the last three. And even before he won the open, people look at his resume and say, well, this dude, you know, he's got all these top 10 finishes.

And this is one of the best golfers and has been in the world. And that is completely true. And you need the ring, obviously, to be able to kind of open some people's eyes. But the Cowboys have that. And because of who they are and because of the jokes and the memes and just the attention that comes with being them, they probably don't get the proper credit that they would if this was, say, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But they also obviously get a lot of benefits, you know, because of who they are. But I have a hard time imagining that you're doing your Christmas shopping without them playing meaningful football, although it all probably does end in some sort of heartbreaking loss to, you know, some team that we can't even see coming right now. Oh, boy. Yeah.

If I want to say the Dallas Cowboys are like anybody, maybe, maybe Rory McIlroy, maybe? No. I mean, that would involve having won something. You know what I mean?

I don't know. I mean, it don't got to be 30 years, but 10, 10, 30, the equivalent, right? No. I mean, that that is if you you know, if you're willing to play with the timelines like you just did. I think that is an apt comparison because he's been so close and he's been so painfully close.

And then you choke. Yeah. I mean, you he's had to watch all these dudes become, you know, like the entire Zander Shafley career has happened in the Rory drought. Right. The entire Jordan Spieth career, Skye Shepler career. Pickle, you know, Brooks Capca. I mean, and Brooks is surpassed him at this point in time.

And so it really is wild. A few weeks ago, when the euros were going on, Alexi Lawless said after England made it to the final that they were the Dallas Cowboys of this whole situation. And and the easy joke was, hey, look, these guys are at least not only making finals, but they're making semifinals. And that's that's the reality of this whole situation is the easy joke is you can't win in the playoffs.

And until you do, I mean, people can say it and you can be mad at the Cowboys. Yeah. But that kind of line last year that I loved, you know, people say that history is written by the winners. And he said that he had the pen and they did.

They absolutely had the pen and they they bottled it. Right. Like, there's no way about it. And so it's frustrating to hear these questions and to hear these remarks in the final days of July. But guess what? This is the price you pay for not getting it done. And so you want to put an end to it all. Well, there's one thing you have to do. Thankfully, it is only the hardest thing in professional sports.

Yeah, go win that Lombardi. Hey, R.J., man, where can people follow you and all your work with Blogging With The Boys? Obviously, BloggingWithTheBoys.com is our Web site. We've got stuff coming out all the time. I'm on Twitter, Instagram threads at R.J. Ochoa.

Those are nice central hubs for everything I do. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me tonight. I hope you have a great rest of your evening and a great weekend. And I hope that I have some sort of contract to write about this time next week. I'm going kind of crazy over here.

Well, listen, they got to get one of the three done, right? Well, you know, I thought that in March. And so here we are. It's almost August. I mean, you know, it feels like fall outside. That's how long it's been. So we'll see. I promise you, whatever they do or don't do, it will be entertaining because that's who they are.