RJ Choppy, Co-Host of "Shan & RJ" on 105.3 The Fan

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There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. We continue this is the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio Wildcard Weekend in the books as it did conclude last night with the Dallas Cowboys taking it and blowing out the Buccaneers. And now let's go down to Dallas and welcome in the co-host of Sean and RJ on 105.3, the fan in Dallas.

And that of course is RJ Choppy, always kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb Show. RJ, how you been? I'm doing well, man. Could be better today. How are you?

I'm doing fantastic. So was last night and the way that the game did play out, especially Brady being in his career 7-0 before last night against the Cowboys. Was that surprising to you or did you kind of look at the Bucks as a team that was a game below 500 and you expected it to be lopsided?

Yes, both. Honestly, that's kind of how we felt going in. There was always a little bit of intrigue just because it was Tom Brady, the mystique, the aura, whatever you want to call it. But at the end of it, it's like, okay, they had 17 games to prove who they were. And generally, I feel that what you are over 17 games is a pretty accurate representation of what you're going to be in the post.

There's exceptions to that and everything. But when you struggle in that division, the NFC, it's not very good. It isn't the AFC West or anything. It made us wonder, okay, look, their favorite on the road, they probably should win. I know the last game of the year stunk for the Cowboys, but when you get right down to it, they should have won that football game going in and they played exactly like it. Now, I didn't think Dak was going to play that way. He played as good of a game as you possibly could play in a playoff, but man, that was a really impressive performance.

I'll preface my next comment by saying, even though I refer to the Cowboys as the drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys on the air, you're right. I was impressed with Dak last night because I think Dak sometimes gets overly criticized and the criticism is too extreme. I'm not saying he's a great quarterback, he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback. I think he's a very good quarterback, but coming off that performance, RJ against the commanders, I didn't think he would be flawless like he was last night. He is inconsistent at times. You could flip a coin and wonder what he's going to be in that game, but I do think he's unfairly criticized. I think that comes with the territory of being the quarterback of the Cowboys.

Our show ends at 10 o'clock Central time, so first take and all of them are getting on in our final hour. We kind of joke, it's like, man, what kind of Cowboy top are they going to bring today? It's really all they talk about. It's like, guys, there's more things out there, but you definitely get more scrutiny. And on the flip side, you'll get more praise by being a member of the Cowboys.

I don't think Michael Gallup's a household name if he plays for Jacksonville, but everybody knows who Michael Gallup is or what football fans do. Dak's going to get unfairly criticized, Romo got unfairly criticized, and I think that's just the nature of the position and the team he plays for. What did you learn about the Cowboys last night? Well, I learned that we kind of overstated the finish of the season for them.

We looked at it with two fine tooth of a comb. This is a good football team. You don't win 12 games on accident very often in the NFL, as the Vikings did, but in general, you don't win 12 games on accident. It's a really good team. And to do that in back to back years, I think we overlooked them coming into the postseason thinking, same old Cowboys, same old this, same old that. They'll find a way to blow it. And they didn't. They found a way to blow a team out.

That's the interesting thing. In the 21 years that I've done radio here at DFW, that's probably the best playoff win out, maybe including the 0-9 win over Philadelphia, which was a blowout too. This was an impressive game.

RJ Choppy here with us. Is McCarthy definitely back next year? Does this weekend's result matter in terms of him potentially getting fired? Oh no, he's back. I never bought into the fact that he was going to be gone if they lost anyway, even this past week.

You win the 12 games back to back years, the players like him. Jerry doesn't have the quick trigger that everybody thinks. Everybody thinks that he's George Steinbrenner or Al Davis.

That's really not him. He did it one time with Chan Gailey. Other than that, he's never had that. Wade Phillips got four plus years. Jason Garrett got a full decade.

Even Dave Campo got three straight five at 11 years. I just don't see him doing that. I don't think that's who he really is. And quite frankly, he's not the same guy that he used to be. There's other people in charge here, not in charge, but have a voice, including Will McClay, including Stephen Jones, and Mike McCarthy to an extent.

Those other two guys just wouldn't go down that road. We talked about some of the criticism directed to Dak at times being unfair. Do you feel that same way with Mike McCarthy? Because it seems for a guy that won a Super Bowl that for the last few years it's just been, when is he getting fired?

Well, I think it's the whole coaching staff. When do you ever hear about an offensive coordinator? All you hear about, honestly, like today, I just found out the Chargers OC was Joe Lombardi.

All I ever heard about was Brandon Stanley, right? We're here with the Cowboys. It's like, oh, Kevin Moore stinks or Dan Quinn is the next big thing.

He's the godsend. We forget, you know, like so many people either call into our show or text into our show talking about we want Dan Quinn. He went to a Super Bowl. I'm like, guys, Mike McCarthy won a Super Bowl. And we're forgetting that, you know? Yeah, I think that the same thing applies to him. I mean, he could be overly praised or overly criticized.

And I just think that comes with territory. So when you guys have, and you guys have Jerry Jones on each and every week, when you had him on last week and you guys asked about McCarthy, R.J. Choppy, I thought that was a very ambiguous response because you could take the no as, okay, yeah, we're not going to fire him. Or it was more so I don't even want to go there. You interpreted that no from Jerry Jones as he would definitely be back? I assumed he would be back based on that response.

But I do understand, like it was some kind of ambiguous, right? I just didn't think that he would actually pull the trigger. Jerry likes to, at times, kind of scare people.

You know, maybe you work harder or maybe you do more things. He kind of likes to have people on edge. He loves to be in the news. He's got this philosophy that there's no such thing as bad publicity. And he loves having, like he, when he sees those headlines on TV, I think he's sitting there rubbing his hands together like the dude in the yellow suit behind a tree, that meme. I think that's what he's doing. He absolutely loves it.

It's a great comparison. R.J. Choppy here with us. So confidence now coming off the big win, the euphoria of last night, heading into this matchup coming up on Sunday against the Niners.

I'm in the minority at the station. I think that this is an okay matchup, but not because they match up well with San Francisco, but because they've got the quarterback advantage. I know Brock Bertie's played well, but I'll take that over Brock Bertie any day. But the one I did not want to go to Philadelphia, if Jalen Hurts is healthy, that's a really bad matchup. But the Cowboys, I hate when the Cowboys are at the face of quarterbacks that can move, and Jalen Hurts can certainly move.

Jalen Jones can move too. But I just don't think the Giants are as good as Philadelphia. I think they have a chance in San Fran. I know San Fran number 2 through 53 on the roster is much better than the Cowboys.

There's no doubt about that. But if Dak plays the way, let's just say he plays 90% of what he did last night, then they're a tough team to beat. They're going to be a really tough out in the NFC. Both back at last year's game, the two things that stood out to me from that wildcard round performance was them just not being ready, and then late, obviously the debacle at the end. How do you think that team is different from last year to this year when they go up against the Niners this time around? One of the big things they wanted to do in the offseason was get tougher. I don't know that they necessarily needed to get tougher, but I don't think they were prepared to get punched in the mouth the way San Fran did. When they showed up to that game and San Fran hit him in the face, man, I do not think they were ready for that. Deebo's got to be a nightmare to tackle.

I can only imagine what a nightmare he is to try to tackle. I think the difference is that they're prepared for San Fran in terms of they know that this team is physical and they will punch you. I don't think they were ready for that last year. I don't think they expected it.

I thought they saw, you know what, they got Jimmy G over there. They're not going to be good. They stuck into the playoffs.

We can sleepwalk through this game. I don't think they're going to fall in that same trap this year. By the way, it was kind of forgotten about because I guess he just wasn't healthy, and then you had also the airplane video as well much later on. Was Odell and the Cowboys ever close, or was that just Jerry trying to stir up some drama?

That's a great question. I thought they were very close. I don't know what happened. I know Jerry loves to stir up and be in the news, but I think they really wanted him. I know Jerry did. I don't know if everybody else in the organization was on board, and I do think that that is the one misnomer, that Jerry just does what he wants. He doesn't. Stephen and Wilma Clay have got a big voice.

The coach, whoever the coach is at the time, is always going to have a big voice. I think Jerry did want him. He was intrigued by the idea.

He loves stars. He loves names, and I think they were kind of close. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. Maybe it was a playing incident, but something happened to make that. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that Jerry was like, we need you this year. This year is super important, and I don't think Odell can commit to that. What's your biggest concern going into this Niners game?

Oh, man. The Cowboys have not been a great road team this year. They do score the road well, but they have not been a great road team. Honestly, I think it's the matchups on how you're going to deal with Devo, how you're going to deal with the Caffrey, and the Niners' toughness. They are a punch-you-in-the-mouth kind of team, and if the Cowboys can stand up to that and be resilient with it, then they've got a chance.

If not, they can easily get beat. On the way out with RJ Choppy from the fan in Dallas at Gelb's show, CBS Sports Radio, is there some concern from the Cowboys' fan base in the immediate aftermath, as great as last night was? It would be very Cowboy-like the following week to just not really show up against the Niners.

Is there that concern, or does last night kind of wash it away from the Cowboy fan? It's funny, we did a poll last week on will the Cowboys beat Tampa, and on Monday it was, no, Tampa's going to win the game. By Friday, it was Cowboys overwhelmingly on the poll. We did a new poll every day.

Today, we did one. Who's going to win the Cowboy game? Sampra and the Cowboys.

Cowboys had 70% of the vote. By the end of the week, I think it's going to be a little bit different. I think fans in general are worst-case scenario, and when you haven't won in advance in 25 years, it really becomes like, okay, we're just waiting.

We're waiting for something bad to happen. I think some of that was gone last night. That was a performance that we haven't seen from this team in two and a half decades.

I think it's still there. I think it's the, okay, we're waiting for you to let us down, but a little bit of that is gone. I'll tell you, and you should be celebrating a win like that, but I saw a lot of positivity last night from Cowboys fans that I've never heard from in years just starting to chirp at me on Twitter last night and basically tell me how great this team was. I'm not surprised by the positivity, especially after last night. Oh, the chess was out.

The chess was out, right? People are walking into work just happy it even went in. They haven't even gone into work today or so. Well, the Cowboys fans thought they ended Brady's career last night. I don't think Brady's making his decision off a loss to the Cowboys.

No, I don't think so either. I don't think they are either, or he is, but yeah, I mean, it was one of those wins. I'll tell you, it felt like this morning, like we had this team advance to the Super Bowl.

I'm like, wait a second. We've got like two wins to go here, but even Jerry this morning was going, oh, it feels so good. It tastes so good to win that game. And I'm like, man, guys, we got like two more wins here. Did he get that McRib sandwich this morning from McDonald's with like a ton of salt?

I would say he was a McGriddle guy, right? That was the highlight of that crappy Hard Knocks with the Cowboys. Anyway, RJ Choppy, enjoy the rest of the week. Enjoy the game coming up this weekend.

Oh, one more before we let you go. Is there actually, you'd rather be playing than not playing clearly, but are the Cowboys really perturbed that the 49ers got a little bit extra rest for this game? So the fact that the cat, not that they got extra rest, but I don't think the Cowboys liked playing on Monday, uh, teams that are playing on five days rest for seven days rest of the playoffs are nine and 24. Uh, they, they don't, they don't like the fact that they had to play a Monday game and travel. That was it, you know, but like, look, they are, they do have a good record this year on short rest. They're undefeated on short rest this year. Um, but yeah, like they didn't, they didn't like the fact that they're going to have to fly, you know, from Tampa to Dallas and then DFW over to, over to San Francisco in five days. They don't, they don't, they didn't like that. They get it, you know, they understand why, you know, why ESPN will want that game on Monday night football and national TV in a prime time slot.

But you know, I don't think they, they liked the idea of having, having a shorter week than everybody else. Good deal, RJ. Appreciate the time. Thank you.

Yep. No problem. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today, the NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touchdown as time expires. Unbelievable turn of events, nonstop coverage from the biggest sports radio stations in the country podcasts dedicated to each NFL team and postseason games streaming live for free. Your playoffs, your Odyssey get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience, follow topics you care about like leagues and teams pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today.