Building Blocks — Camp Report, Morning, July 26th
Posted: July 26, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
The morning was surprising hot and so was the pace of the Cowboys first practice in full pads. The structure of the practice showed the emphasis on building units upon sound fundamentals.
Perhaps the best way to understand the work underway is to compare it to the structure and pace of Bill Parcells’ Oxnard camps, since this is the first session here for Wade Phillips.
The first and most noticeable difference is in tone. Camp Bill was fast paced and intense. It also had the shadow of paranoia about it. A high school coach who was spotted charting plays one year was brought before The Tuna by security and interrogated. The electronic press had their video access limited in year one.
And the practices were hard to view for the fans. There are two fields at Oxnard, one near the fans stands and another set behind it. Parcells always kept his offensive players on the far field and at the left end, where they were hardest to view.
Camp Wade, by comparison is an open city. The offense works out right in front of the fan stands, giving them what they want – the maximum chances to ooh and aah over a Tony Romo pass and a T.O. or Jason Witten catch.
Security is still tight – two bragged to me this morning of spotting and evicting a “reporter” with a counterfeit press pass, but everything sits in plain sight. HBO has brought “Hard Knocks” here, after all, and their cameras are everywhere, on the sidelines and in the bleachers. Players linger much longer after practice, working in small groups and signing autographs. At Camp Wade, openness and progress are not seen as enemies.
With that atmosphere surrounding them, the players jumped immediately into work. On defense, the initial drills emphasized chaos – for opposing offenses. Each position coach took a unit and stressed stripping the football, handing the football properly after an interception or fumble recovery and knocking down passes. After two minutes, the groups rotated to the next station, where they learned another way of disrupting an offense.
At this point, the offensive and defensive units returned to their respective coaches and worked from individual drills to unit drills. For instance, the quarterbacks and receivers worked together on routes and route combinations, with nobody opposing them. Then, the tight ends and running backs were summoned from the far end of the field, where those units were working with the offensive linemen on run blocking.
The QBs, RBs, TEs and WRs, then worked on integrated patterns. Later, they joined with their linemen and squared off against the defense.
The initial pairing saw the offensive and defense square off on running plays. The group then broke up and special teams coach Bruce Read took over, working today on punt coverage. He, like his coaching peers, broke the act down into discrete units: gunners worked in units on their releases, while the core group worked on blocking inside charges. The units later merged and worked on covering together.
Later, the team returned to 11 on 11 drills, with new units being run in on every play. The result was hard to track. The first offensive line, for example, would stay in for several plays while a new QB, RB, TE and WR set would enter on each play. The constant churn made it hard to get a feel for who looks good and who looks bad, since players didn’t have extended runs today. Nonetheless, here are some observations of scattered plays:
Sam Hurd’s route running looks very crisp. He got consistent separation on all CBs I saw in 1-on-1 drills and turned Terence Newman around on a comeback route.
Terrell Owens could start the season now. He torched Newman on a deep fade where T.O. started in the slot. He left Adam Jones in his wake a couple of times. I’ve watched enough camps now to get a feel for whether a player is doing well or the corners are stumbling. It’s only day two, and day one in pads, but don’t worry about T.O. slowing down.
– WR coach Ray Sherman and WRs Sam Hurd and Patrick Crayton all commented on Isaiah Stanback’s deep speed. He got behind Adam Jones with ease on a fly pattern but could not snatch a pass that was short and outside. He lined up exclusively as the flanker this morning.
– Anthony Spencer can’t be blocked by running backs or fullbacks on blitzes, at least not the ones I saw try to block him today.
– The defensive line, or at least the first unit, got the better of the offensive line in the 11-on-11 drills, which is no surprise on day two. The rushers put steady pressure on Tony Romo and Jason Hatcher batted down one of his passes.
Dallas is practicing a lot more press coverage. On one play the offense lined up in a slot formation and Anthony Henry and Terence Newman both took a man, lining up just two to three yards off the ball. Newman told me he has asked DC Brian Stewart to let the defense play more press. “I know they want to zone blitz, that’s what [Stuart and Phillips] did in San Diego, but with the players we have here, I think you have to let them play to their abilities.” Based on this morning’s work, the defensive coaches may have paid attention.
Other Notes:
– Felix Jones was not at the morning practice, but is expected to play this afternoon.
– Terence Newman and Adam Jones alternated returning punts. I asked Newman if he was going to return more kicks this year and he smiled, shook his head and said, “we’ll see when the first game comes…”
– The special teams punt coverage session was an ensemble production today: While ST coach Read focused on the inside blockers, Dat Nguyen coordinated the rotation of rushers. On the outside, TE coach John Garrett worked with the gunners on their releases.
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First! again awesome update Raf and again since Jones wasn’t practicing this morning how did Choice look out there?
nice Raf, some quotes straight from Terrence Newman. I have to be honest, theboysblog is becoming a distant low-fi memory.
regarding some recent WR debate. I am half glad about the release of Glenn. Yes I hate the fact he could have been an awesome #2 but at least it shows that the cowboys are going to give their young receivers a chance. with Glenn on the field we would never be able to give Stanback or Austin the playing time they need to find out if they have anything more than potential. Austin needs at least one more year. Stanback 2 maybe 3. There is no room on the roster for another young draft pick. Austin, Hurd, Stanback, TO, Crayton. Thats a full roster of receivers, not to mention the likes of Amendiola, Jefferson, and Bradford. Yes the release of Glenn brings us one step away from being a complete team but it does speed along the process of team development.
With all that said I hope Boldin finds a way on this team either this year or next.
Raf:
After hearing a lot about it, I’m suddenly not hearing it anymore…
What about the things that Romo worked on over the summer? From the previous camp can you say that he imporved his accuracy?
Improved his release time?
He scans the field faster?
Last season he took a lot of time to get himself rid of the ball every now and then, this is one of the things in which he needed to work on.
BTW, great practice reports.
I’m sure the fact that defense was practicing on press coverage makes people happy. Playing more bump and run should cause some more consistant pressure.
who was lining up as gunner? I wonder if Scandrick has anything to offer there.
Football has arrived. Tex had the pleasure of taking the old Porsche down the magnificent morning coast, top down a George Straight CD popped in. Commotion, and the uncivilized out there in the ‘Nard, wow.
A few notes… Tank is a monster of a man and bobby carpenter has the looks for WWF. A lot of Barber and Terrell. A lot of Terrell. The raw size of a Leonard Davis and the ostracized kickers. Stanback and that wes welker kid have a chance. Pittsburgh fan, Polamalu, thrown out to boos.
Preseason is around the corner!
On another note, my Cubbies are right on schedule, swooning just as football kicks in. Maybe BFarve will play for the stupid Brewers.
Tying those together, do the Boys still have the rights to that TE from NDame?, Samardja or something? He’s made it to the Bigs already.
As I said before, though, since he’s on the Cubs, his shoulder will go as soon as he loooks real good, and he may still end up in the NFL!
Raf/Raul, I feel terrible for you guys and what happened with the other site.
Traffic is way down here, and now Camp is going. I thought it would pick up when this started.
All the old crowd would have to do is google your names + Cowboys, I wish more people had made the move.
I finailly was able to log in! Yes! Been trying for quite a while. For some reason the site wouldn’t log me in. Raul, did you fix it for me?
Raf, nice report! Wish I was there with ya. But I have tickets for the Charger game. Can’t wait, even for a pre season game. Its been a long dry off season. I have to take my daughter to L.A. on Monday, and maybe I can talk her into comming up to see the afternoon Spec. teams practice.
Raf and raul, whatever did happen with the old site?
Raul, are we going to still have those cool bash eagles icons etc. ?
Larry, if the articles continue to produce the quality content they will come. I was lurking through the move but hit a crazy stretch with my job that wouldn’t allow me the time to post.
Raf, I remember this time last year you were raving about Romo’s accuracy. How’s he looking so far? Is the accuracy there?
SD… they’re still here …
:smile:
:sucphi:
:suxiggles:
:sux iggles:
:sux_iggles:
I give up