Drew Pearson, Cowboys Hall of Fame Wide Receiver

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Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. Now joining us, the original number 88 cowboy legend, NFL legend. This never gets old calling him a Pro Football Hall of Famer. I know yesterday was not a good day to say the least for his Dallas Cowboys as the Packers just annihilated them. But always do appreciate when we get to spend a few minutes with Drew Pearson. Drew, appreciate the time. I would ask you how you're doing, but I know you can't be in a good mood today.

No, not really, Zach. You know, disappointed, you know, the way we started the game, the way we played throughout the game and then the way we finished the game. So it was not a good day for the Dallas Cowboys and even more disappointing that they had the home field advantage to a certain extent in these playoffs.

They win, they get another game at home and they couldn't take advantage of that opportunity. Have the Cowboys hit a point where they've just reached a mental roadblock because they have more talent than the Green Bay Packers, but you're right. The moment the Packers won the toss, took the ball and went right down the field and scored, they set the tone and the Cowboys just never recovered from that.

It seemed like they panicked early. Well, you know, Zach, the thing I look for initially in a football game, especially a playoff game, is who's bringing the intensity. Now, both teams are bringing it.

You're going to have a darn good football game. But if one team's bringing it to the playoff level and the other team is not doing that or taking that and doing something with it or responding to that, then you're going to have a domination by one team over another. And that's what happened. It's not the play calling. It's not the schemes.

It's it's wanting to do it. You know, just have that emotional level that no matter what they bring at you and they brought a lot, you know, they had a great game plan coming in, especially offensively. But, you know, they brought physicality to they punched us in the mouth. We took it and we didn't respond in the way you're supposed to respond in a playoff situation.

Before you know it, we're way down. It's kind of crazy, Drew Pearson, because two out of the last three years, like that first San Francisco game, they were playing from behind and they weren't ready from the jump. And then yesterday, I don't know how they weren't ready for that game.

But once again, they weren't ready. And that's now two out of three years where they just had these terrible starts in playoff games. Yeah, San Francisco did the same thing two years ago.

You know, we're they just punched us quick. You know, I was there at the game and I saw that level they brought and the Cowboys were, you know, they're feeling around and all this, but San Francisco was there with a purpose. They're where to win that football game. Green Bay came to town with a purpose. They're probably glad just to get out of Green Bay to come to Texas.

You know, we're a little chilly, but it's not Green Bay kind of cold. But now they came to town with a purpose. They said, we're going to take this game and they're playing at a high level. So we should have expected their play on the field and what they brought as far as the game plan and things they do on the field was going to be good football.

But the extra that they brought was that intensity level, that emotional level. And, you know, sometimes, Zach, when you go on the road, there's more of a camaraderie type thing. You know, you're traveling together, you're on the plane together at the hotel, you eat together, the breakfast, the meetings, everything's together. When you're at home, you're all over the place. Relatives, you know, they say success is relative. You play a Cowboy playoff game, you find out how many relatives you have. OK, they come from everywhere, you know, and you got to take care of this. You got to take care of that.

And so sometimes you might have a tendency to lose your focus, especially if you're not experiencing dealing with those kind of situations. So Green Bay came in here focused, ready to play. And they started from day from quarter one and took it to us. And we didn't respond. We sat back and took it, took it. And the way they did it, you know, dominating us on the ground running game and then hitting us with the big plays, making Jordan Love look even better. People are saying today on the top shows I've been hearing this guy might be better than Aaron Rodgers. You know, and we're responsible for that because we made him look like that.

Yes. Talking to the original 88, the Pro Football Hall of Famer Drew Pearson, I know how much you love this team. You've been a part of a lot of Dallas Cowboy games and then you've watched a ton of them throughout many years. Was this the most disgusted that you've ever been with the Cowboys team after that performance yesterday? No, no, I've been disgusted before this time, even when I played. OK, I was disgusted about some of our performances.

But no, this is disappointing. You know, this is at a low level. But here's the deal. What do we do from here? OK, we know where we are now.

You know, we know how we got there. We won a lot of games in the preseason. And how come we're not ready when the playoffs come? How come we weren't ready against San Francisco when the playoffs come?

That's what we need to investigate. I don't think we need to get rid of certainly don't need to get rid of the quarterback. I mean, two weeks ago, we're talking about MVP candidate, you know, but what we need and we certainly don't need to get rid of the coach. OK, we don't need to start over with this organization, with this football team.

Jerry Jones is 81 years old. He's going to start over again. You're going to bring a new coach in here to bring in a new philosophy. This will be how many times that has changed coordinators and offensive philosophies. If you let McCarthy go, you know, so find out the reasons why what's going on. Don't talk to me about Belichick. Don't talk to me about Carol, Pete Carroll. Those guys are bandaids. The only coach I would accept the Cowboys going after and getting is Harbaugh.

OK, up in Michigan. And the reason I say that is because he's a great coach, but he's young. You can build on him. You can't build off a Belichick. You can't build off a Pete Carroll.

Those are bandaids. So stick with what you got McCarthy and find out why you can't get over that home. Identify and try to correct it. Now you're getting me fired up. The great Drew Pearson here with us. With that being said, that's what you think they should do. Do you think they will bring back Mike McCarthy? Because, Jerry, he can't be thrilled yesterday. I don't care how I've been as critical as any one of the Cowboys.

No one saw them losing that game yesterday. I do think McCarthy is going to be sent packing and they're going to go for somebody else. You do, huh? But, you know, again, Jerry's 81. I think I don't think he's at that point where he wants to bring somebody else in. You know, the biggest hit on their salary cap is their quarterback, you know? So you've got to be thinking about him.

What's comfortable for him? And if it's McCarthy coming in another season, you know, based on what they did the first season together as you know him calling the plays, then maybe they can improve. But the real improvement with this football team needs to be on the defensive side of the football. You know, the way they've been gouging us in the running game and hitting those big runs and creating situations where a guy like Jordan love, you know, is second and short, you know, 30 short. Those kind of situations are or conducive for him in a kind of play.

He, you know, now you've got the play action game coming into focus. So anyway, I don't think. But here's the I don't know if you can see that that's in today's paper.

Yeah. Those are all the Joneses. Mr. Jones, Steven and Jerry Junior and the young guy in there. He's grooming him already. That's Steven Jones's son. So anyway, that's a disappointment. They're showing and I see that I see that on Jerry's face and I say no, I don't think he wants to tear it down and start all over.

I think he wants to try it again and see if they can correct what they need to do to get over that home set. You're a part of greatness. You know what it is to be great in this league. I'm glad you brought up the defense because for this entire year when they were playing inferior opponents, they were blowing out these opponents and not allowed a lot of points. People called this Cowboys defense.

Great. It looks like this was just a good Cowboys defense. Not a great Cowboys defense because that shouldn't be lost in yesterday, man.

Even with how great love has been down the stretch to have him look like that in his playoff start. Man, that is a real indictment on this defense right now headed into next year. Yeah, without a doubt, you know, they say, you know, I'm an offensive guy, you know, they say you win games with offense, but you win championships with defense and there is no question about that. When we were having success back in the day with the original triplets, me, Dorset, Roger Starbuck, Tony Hill, Billy Joe, you know, we're having 20 some points a game. The reason we had that a lot of the reason we had that success, it was because of the doomsday defense in a lot of situations with giving us good field position to work with.

You know, we very seldom had to go the length of the field to get what we needed to put on the scoreboard. So defense is, you know, got to be the focus here. You know, apparently it looks like we need some beep up front, you know, because that's where you start stopping to run with that beep up front and trying to control the offensive line. And then following that up, you know, with good play with your linebackers. Look, think about all the tackles we missed just yesterday. You know, open field inside the box tackles. We were missing getting blocked at the at the right time where we stepping up thinking we're going to make the tackle. And here they come, you know, knocking us.

He probably anticipate those kind of things. But anyway, we've got to improve the defense. And I think that's where the improvement on offense. I think we need to go get a tough, rough running back that can run up inside.

And that will complement. Derek Henry's available. Derek Henry. Hey, I like him.

I'll take it. Here's the guy I like. I don't know if he's available, but that James Connor from the Arizona Cardinals. That's a bad dude, man. I would like to see him in our backfield. You hear that, Jerry? Go after James Connor. Now bring him to the office. I think that'll be an improvement to the running game.

That would be fun. I know you talked about continuity and how you want to see McCarthy back and Dak Prescott back. But Dak Prescott is a free agent.

They can't franchise tag him. So the going rate for quarterbacks is forty five, fifty million dollars a year. It's tough for me to give all that money to a quarterback, but I don't think he's going to win a Super Bowl in the NFL. But then once again, what do the Cowboys do if you don't bring back Dak Prescott at the quarterback position? It's a lot of money to give back. Well, that's that's the thing. You know, back in the day, we were wide receivers asking for more money.

Gil Brant used to say, what makes you so special? I could shake a tree and pick up five wide receivers before they hit the ground, you know? But now the players have a little bargaining power, you know, because of their their salary. So that Dak is not going anywhere because of that.

They got to make it work with that. And, you know, that is the kind of player if he needs to adjust this contract, take less or whatever. You know, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, they make a lot of money on the field, but they also make a lot of money off the field.

Absolutely. You know, Roger Starbucks salary used to stay down and held our salaries down simply because Roger, the type of guy that he is, he would combine what he was making off the field with what he's making on the field. So when I go ask Gil Brad for this, he said, you think you should make more than Roger Starbuck? And I say, Roger, don't make that, you know, but he didn't make that in his cowboy contract. But because he was doing so many things off the field and creating a life for himself after football off the field, then Roger would take less money. But this is a different situation nowadays.

The players have some power, so to speak, because of their contracts, because the amount of money their contracts represent against each team salary cap. And so another thing, if you get rid of that, where are you going to go? Cooper Rush? Come on.

And I heard that DeVito guys are available. You want to put a real hat on a cowboy hat? Last thing I'll ask you, Drew Pearson, because your cowboy royalty, you love this this team more than anybody I know. What's your message to the players? What would you say to the players so they finally get this right in Jerry's world? Feel this, feel this loss, feel this hurt, read the article, listen to these people talk about you on TV, tell them how bad you are and use that as motivation. You know, we're part of the 88 club with C.D.

and C.D. didn't have a good game, you know, but what we lend him to our texting group that we had is encouragement. You know, you know, but you got your head down, you're disappointed, but let this hurt motivate you. But a lot of times in the NFL nowadays, when teams lose a big game like that and it hurts them, those same players aren't even on the team the next year because of movement and transition in the league. But that's what I would tell them every time I played in seven NFC championship games.

OK, I lost four of them. But every time I lost those championship games, it provided the motivation to get me to work out and get get back to another championship and try to get over that hump. So use this as motivation. Now, being a pro football player nowadays, again, with the money they make, they shouldn't need that kind of motivation. But this is a different type of motivation.

This is the type of motivation you feel in your heart, not in your pocket. OK, so use that to get better and find out what you need to do. Each player individually, you know, Bruno's. Bruno's Bruno Mars has a song, The Man in the Mirror. Check that song out.

Look in the mirror at yourself and make it better and do your job. Absolutely love it. I always love when we get a chance to connect with Drew Pearson, the original eighty eight, the Pro Football Hall of Famer. Drew, nothing but good health to you and your family. Appreciate you doing this. Thanks so much. Anytime, Zach, you demand. See those? There you go.

Drew Pearson showing the rings. Around New Year's, we get a little obsessed with changing ourselves and forgetting the things we're already doing right. Like taking our supplements every morning or scheduling me time into our day. Therapy helps you recognize those victories and keep up the good work in the new year without changing everything. Better help offers affordable online therapy so you can try New Year's same you with better help. Visit better help dot com slash grow today to get 10 percent off your first month. That's better help.

H e l p dot com slash grow. Babysitter paid. Pizza ordered.

Flowers delivered. You can do a lot of things with your phone. And with blue link plus, you can even access your Hyundai Tucson Limited remotely. Doors unlocked.

Temperature set. Lost car found. Oh, there it is. Get complimentary class leading blue link plus. Just another way we make owning a Hyundai Tucson Limited more convenient than ever.

Learn more about the new Tucson and blue link plus at Hyundai USA dot com. Call five six two three one four four six zero three for complete details. So all my people out in pod land. This is your boy, Chris Chapman. And I have a new podcast for you all. As you know, my old show, The Chris Chapman Confrontation, was a victim of a little thing called cancel culture. And I vowed to take a long break and really reflect the tough two months. But I'm here to announce I'm back better than ever with the Chris Chapman do over.

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