He was a defensive back with the Bears and Buccaneers For many years.

He was 54 years old.

The owner of the Cowboys, Jerry Jones, released a statement which reads in part.

Marcus Paul was a loved and valued member of our family.

His passion for his work and his enthusiasm for life earned him great respect and admiration from all our players and the entire organization.

Our hearts are broken for his family and all the individuals whose lives he touched and made better.

I wanted to bring Damien Woody and for a moment here because d what?

I know that you knew Marcus Paul.

I'd love you to share a thought, if you would on this morning about him.

Yeah, Green.

This is definitely, uh this is a tough one island for me, but for everyone that new markets Paul and and Marcus was was, you know, was with me in in New England.

He you know, when I was a young player, you know, this was a man who, you know, showed me the road, you know, taught me the right way toe work particularly, you know, just exercise and taking care of my body and green.

You never come across some kind of more humble man than than you were with Marcus, Paul and and, you know, just the lessons that he gave me, you know, during the weight room.

And, you know, because he played briefly in the National Football League and to be able to pass that on to me, to a young man that was just starting out his career in the National Football League, you know, for me, I'm forever indebted to Marcus Paul and and my thoughts and prayers goes out to his family into everyone.

That's that New markets, Paul three Outpouring of emotion from across the world of football has been really notable and extraordinary for the last few days.

And so the cowboys again they will play their game today.

They will play it with heavy hearts.

And do you would thank you for taking a moment there to remember your friend.

And again we will mention the game is being played today.

And so let's take a look at the game, which does have extraordinary implications in this division where all the teams have struggled.

But someone will win and make the playoffs with a win.

Both teams would give themselves a 25% chance or better to win this division.

A loss for either would really impact their chances of making the playoffs again.

The winner of this game will be in first place in the division heading into the weekend.

And so as we look at this as a football game, Dominique watching the Cowboys play this past week against Minnesota, I thought to myself, That's a team we haven't seen all year long.

They just looked different.

Why, What did you say?

Yeah, I mean, they got some stops on defense.

That was the big difference.

I think that even back when Deck was healthy, the major issue was them being able to put together some consistent defensive plays and they weren't outstanding.

They were just pretty good on defense, which is all you need when you have to play makers that they have on offense.

I'm not sure that they're gonna be able to repeat that going into this game.

But if they can, then I think they become one of the favorites in that division of mediocre to below average teams.

So being able to run the ball helps, especially when you're to take pressure off your defense and Andy Dalton coming back and finding ways to complete passes to those outstanding playmakers and then those playmakers making improbable place.

I think that is something that you can always rely on.

But you should be able to get that from week to week every now and then from the Cowboys.

So they look a lot better than they've looked pre and previous games.

But I don't trust it.

Greeny.

Well, I mean, look again to get to four and seven and first place in the division, you only have to trust them so much.

Uh, Bart and we were talking earlier this morning.

A lot of this is about the quarterback for you.

Yeah, I mean, when when Andy Don's at his best, he's a competent quarterback.

He's a guy that's above a game manager.

But I think you know Mike McCarthy finally either got through the buy in by going all Gallagher and I wonder if he had the face year alone when he was smashing watermelons.

But that trick only works once.

The problem is, you know, the Redskins coming.

I'm sorry the Washington football team comes in this week, and they're bringing in the best pass rush in the past five games.

You know, Dallas is trying to figure out their offensive line, and if the Andy Dalton has to throw the ball more than 30 times, he's gonna leave yourself vulnerable as they're trying to shuffle.

Figure who's gonna be the right tackle.

The left tackle.

I think right now the time is right for Alex Smith.

What a story that would be.

Alex Smith coming back and March and his team back to the to the postseason.

He's the best back left in his division.

Greeny.

Yeah, they've been an interesting story to follow.

Zeke Elliot finally ran for 100 yards last week.

They're 25 4 since he got there in games in which he does Schefty.

How about this?

What are we hearing coming out of Dallas this week and and and the way they looked at the tragedy there notwithstanding and just the the football side of it for them.

Well, I I think it's all about the emotion of today and how this team basically response to the events of this week when you lose somebody that you love so much and care about so much, and it has to play a football game just days later.

That is challenging emotionally to do now.

This has happened to this franchise before.

You remember there was a player, uh, decade ago or so that was killed right before Thanksgiving game.

The team responded, came out, played very well, and I think this team will have a lot on its mind as you mentioned the heavy hearts that will be playing with.

And I think there's no way that that can impact the way they play today.