The Teaching Continues: Cowboys Camp Afternoon Report: August 2nd
August 2, 2008
The Cowboys concluded their second consecutive day of two-a-days in shorts and shoulder pads, emphasizing special teams, red zone offense and their two minute offense today. The pace was steady and the hitting was hard, even though full tackling was not allowed.
Before the final sequence, where the first, second and third offenses worked against their defensive counterparts on the hurry up, the team engaged in 9-on-9s, 7-on-7s and eventually in 11-on-11s. The session was as notable for what didn’t happen as for what happened. In the 9-on-9, Martellus Bennett had two linemen land on his legs. He limped away from the action veeery slowly but eventually walked off the hurt and returned to drills at full speed.
Felix Jones made a couple of impressive runs in the 9-on-9, though the hurry ups looked ragged, for all units. Here are some notes from the rest of the practice.
Yesterday Jerry Jones told the press that his scouts had competed their preliminary report on the team before heading out onto the road.
Today I asked Tom Ciskowski, the Cowboys’ Director of College and Pro Scouting to describe the process.
He told me that in the initial practices each scout is assigned a single position to evaluate. They then produce a unit evaluation, where each unit is ranked from its best player on down. The scouts do not write full reports but offer “one liners” of each player’s game.
When the Cowboys begin playing opponents, the scouts are sent DVDs of the games, so that they have an understanding of each player’s performance in live action. The reports are used as baselines; when the scouts evaluate college players, they do so in relation to the talent on the roster. “For example, if you’re grading a center and he’s similar to Andre Gurode,” he said, “you would compare him to Gurode.” “You don’t want to bring in players who are not as good or who can’t compete with the talent you already have on your squad.”
The Cowboys coaches work a lot on injury prevention. Joe Juraszek today went to various units during the positional drills and worked with each on stretching their hamstrings.
– Don’t worry about Nick Folk. He went through two sequences of kicks today, beginning at 38 yards and dropping back five yards after each success. He nailed all his kicks, even the two 53 yarders.
– The Cowboys unveiled a trick field goal play. Jason Witten usually lines up on the edge of the kicking formation and on this play he ran towards the sideline, as if he was leaving the game. L.P. Ladouceur snapped high to Brad Johnson, who stood up and passed up the sideline to Witten, who had turned upfield. The play caught the defense completely off guard.
John Garrett kept the guest referees and his gunners on their toes during a coffin corner punt drill. Garrett worked with his gunner teams on bracketing the return man, with one man getting one yard in front of the return man and the other running down the the two yard line and then looking for the punt. Orlando Scandrick downed a punt near the goal line but had it ruled a touchback because the ball bounced over the plane of the goalline.
When Scandrick looked confused about the call, Garrett called to the referee, “explain it to him,” and turned his rookie to hear the rule explained. He then told Scandrick, “that’s why we [run] to the two…”
Later in the drill, when Adam Jones tried to decoy the gunners away from the ball, Garrett offered this nugget to his gunners: “who doesn’t tell a lie on the field? The ball doesn’t.” He continually urged his men to find the ball in the air. “Gather information! Gather information,” was his manta.
The offense and defense carefully coordinate their workouts. In the positional drills, the outside linebackers worked on stopping cross blocking by the offensive tackles and tight ends. Later, the linemen worked on stopping stunts by the defensive linemen.
When the units met later in practice, offensive line pairs worked on stopping stunts from OLB/DE pairs, DE/NT pairs and DE/OLB pairs down the line. These twists, as you’ll recall, troubled the Cowboys two years ago against the Eagles. The team drilled against twists religiously in camp last year and resumed their drills against them today. The offensive starters played well against the stunts down the line.
– Erik Walden again threw a nasty inside counter move on Doug Free in pass rushing drills. He’s up and down like all rookie are, but he’s got athleticism.
Make Way for Anthony…
New OLB coach Reggie Herring told me Anthony Spencer is his most consistent player this camp. Hear more encouraging comments about the second year man in the MP3 below.
… and for Martellus Bennett
TE coach John Garrett was also very complementary of his rookie TE, saying that Bennett was making the necessary progress to contribute right away:
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Avert Your Eyes Children!
August 2, 2008
The words “Bill Belichick” and “sex tape” should never be in the same sentence. But they are.
Way. Too. Much. Information… (shudder)
Cowboys Camp — August 2nd
August 2, 2008
The Cowboys are having their first run of consecutive two-a-days. Since both of yesterday’s workouts were in shorts and today’s early workout is also in shorts, they can handle the increase in time. I, on the other hand, am sitting out the morning session with a sore brain, but will be back in the lineup for the afternoon session.
Here are some notes and quotes from yesterday’s workout.
Getting off the Bubble
Yesterday, I profiled eleven guys I list as bubble boys, players who are fighting for the last half dozen or so spots on the roster. The key is making yourself impossible to cut. And yesterday, Evan Oglesby contined his push to make himself uncuttable. He tracked Mike Jefferson in the one-on-one drills and made an interception of a bobble pass.
Later, in the 11-on-11 two minute drills he picked off Tony Romo, cutting under Sam Hurd. Oglesby has had several big days the first week, and may push for time in the regular nickel if he’s not careful.
Flo is Ready to Go
The theme for week one is the sharpness of the offense. I’ve remarked throughout the week that Terrell Owens has been unstoppable. He and Romo are in sync. Same with Jason Witten. If the Cowboys were a college team and the Chargers game actually counted in the standing, the team, especially the offense, would be ready to handle it. The starting eleven is already set and the only question is whether Sam Hurd or Miles Austin will be the third receiver or whether they will rotate there.
Another veteran in mid-season form is Flozell Adams. Players can sometimes up their playing levels during their contract years and then drop back into a confort zone when they get their money. Not so with Adams, who is keeping everybody away from his quarterback. He’s made Demarcus Ware look ordinary when the two have squared off, and they do so a lot.
Jerry Jones told the press yesterday that Flozell’s brought him peace of mind. Jerry also expressed gratitude that Flozell stayed off the market, adding that losing Flozell would have moved Leonard Davis to left tackle and disrupted the offensive line’s continuity.
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Can The Kids Keep Tony Upright?
Running backs coach Skip Peete told me he has confidence in rookie Felix Jones and Tashard Choice as blockers, saying they’re tough and tenacious. He mentioned that the coaches would have more drills isolating the backs and linebackers in the coming days but warned that such drills can be misleading.
Your Antacid Moment
Lest you get too giddy about the ‘08 Cowboys, here’s something to give you pause.
Jerry Jones mentioned yesterday that the team’s scouts had concluded their self-evaluations of the team’s strengths and weaknesses, based only on the accumulated Oxnard practices. If there’s a major question mark it remains the third receiver spot. Sam Hurd had a very productive opening to camp but yesterday he had trouble with all of the team’s top corners. Adam Jones, Anthony Henry and Evan Oglesby all smothered him in the one-on-ones. This merits further attention. Terrell Owens is money and Patrick Cratyon gets open, though he dropped two passes today. Hurd and Miles Austin are still question marks to my eyes.
The Sports Doctors 08/01 Podcast
August 2, 2008
For those who missed it, here’s the Friday show:
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