It’s Only the Beginning
Posted: August 8, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
Training Camp has been encouraging. It’s been fun. It’s been informative.
But it’s only the beginning of the Cowboys’ journey.
On the opening day of camp, I asked Hudson Houck what he could tell about his linemen, with OTAs and mini-camps under his belt. He refused to handicap his group, saying, “all I know is that I have 22 more practices to go.”
On Wednesday, with 18 of those practices in the books, I asked him the same question. He again deferred, saying they still had pre-season games to play before the staff determined how many players the Cowboys would keep at each position and which ones.
Armchair GMs like me like to play the “pick-53″ game, where we try to determine the Cowboys final roster as soon as possible. Because the Cowboys are so deep and veteran-laden, this exercise is not so hard, give or take a half dozen or so players.
But we don’t really know and can’t know about the back roster today. The games count, in that respect.
Will Danny Amendola stick? He’s been promising, but if he looks pedestrian in the games, all the good workouts come to nothing. James Marten, Joe Berger, Keon Lattimore, Alonzo Coleman, Marcus Dixon, Erik Walden, Evan Oglesby, Alan Ball, Courtney Brown… All these guys have put themselves in position to grab a roster slot. Nothing more.
That doesn’t mean camp has been worthless. It tells us a lot about veterans. We know a Flozell Adams is ready because he has years and years of play to draw upon, in addition to his camp work. The kids, on the other hand, are a blank slate.
That’s why you need to adjust your pre-season viewing. Don’t look to the score. Look at the guys fighting for jobs. And treat their play as individual auditions. The kids I named will get a lot of playing time. But they will do so with and against a lot of second and third teamers who won’t have real chances to make a squad.
Find them as soon as they enter the game. Note how they perform, especially against first team opposition. Note how each of them does on special teams. Make a point of learning where they line up on special teams. I’ll have a piece on this tomorrow. And let those plays be your guides for establishing the Dallas back roster.
Because the last two weeks have only been the prelude. The real auditions begin tomorrow in San Diego.
Note: We’ve got a full plate for this afternoon’s episode of “The Sports Doctors.” Bryan Broaddus, a former NFL scout and a regular of “Galloway & Company” on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas. He’ll discuss the Brett Favre trade, what teams are looking for this time of the year, Steve Smith and Anquan Boldin and how hard it is to make a trade and how good the Dallas back roster really is. He’ll also take on as many questions you can serve up, either in this thread or via call.
Bryan will be with us from 5:05 to 5:20 CT. As always, our number is 888-806-1661. We’ll also continue our profile of team hot spots with a look at the special teams, with comments from ST coach Bruce Read. You can listen locally at 1240 AM or listen to our live stream here on site. We hope you can join us. And if you join us, we hope you participate.
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1st…..
second again
AS I posted on the previous thread—
So, was it just me, or was yesterday Dallas light?
I saw;
Terrence Copper
Jamaica Rector
Scott Shanle
Scott Fujita
Lousaka Polite
and
Oliver Hoyt (back at OLB)
Our Trash is someone else’s treasure I guess
It was also pointed out that Jehremiah Uhrban and Skyler Green were out there playing for their jobs.
This only proves Rafaels point. Most of these guys had us watching their every move in years past to see if they could make the cut.
I’ll throw another name out there that my wife asked me about yesterday.
Justin Beriault
Remember the cry for Berry-O?
My Underdog picks to root for this year are
1-Danny Amendola
for his speed
and
2-Marcus Dixon
for his heart after all he’s gone through to get here.
In truth, besides the above two, I see Ball, Brown, Marten and Berger making the cut…The others are fodder
Totally off the subject, but equally important;
Raul- Can we get the schedule with game times posted to the main page? Maybe eventually we can show the network and a radio station that will broadcast the games?
Thanks guys, Have I mentioned you two are real life savers?
I thought we should have drafted Amendola, so I hope he shows something tomorrow. Glad we got him for “free”, hope he produces.
Can Adam Jones play in the game?
I want to see some shake from Felix and some strong running from Choice. The three-headed running attack could be a huge strength for our team. Choice may end up as a better overall runner than Felix. Can you imagine bringing a fresh set of legs to seal the deal in the fourth quarter?
It’s going to be a good year…
Gunner,
You see the Schmap widget in the lower right hand column? At the bottom, it has a schedule link. Click on it and you’ll get your info.
I think that’s a downloadable widget, that you can put on your desktop.
Uh, it’s not downloadable, but it does have the schedule.
Ahh rafael,
you try to prepare the masses. You preach caution and the avoidance of the knee-jerk reaction.
sound and wise advice, to say the least.
but most wont listen.
they’ll read too much into these games, win or lose.
and it starts tomorrow.
Over twenty practices in the books and the inexperienced Brian Stewart hasn’t blown up any of his defensive players yet!
It was the beleaguered BStew who forced Jason Hatcher to run sprints before warming up last year, leaving the defensive end with a strained left hamstring which set him back all year.
Stewart is the weak link and is holding this franchise back. The Cowboys need Don Capers, not a male hostess masquerading as a Defensive Coordinator.
Tex, your “male hostess” line was funny, but the first funny thing you have posted in quite a while.
Please do more of that.
Tex was wrong about the great Drew Henson, but smelled out the Tuna before anyone else and was shouting from the rooftops about Romo’s Spring Break and all those turncoats before the Giants debacle.
This is a similar situation to Mrs. Doubtfire and the best QB never to win a playoff game… the utterly unqualified Brian Stewart is going to cost the Dallas Cowboys a chance at a championship. An organization’s weak link can’t come at the coordinator position. The BStew problem must be dealt with, like yesterday.
If the incompetence of a mere “male hostess” (who is actually nothing more than a delegator for the real head of the defense’s braintrust, Wade Phillips) is enough to derail their championship aspirations maybe they are a bunch of weak willed feeble minded titty babies who don’t deserve to win a championship in the first place. I thought the defense was a collection of grown men and not a Pop Warner team.
Does anyone know of a site i can go to and watch the game live tomorrow?
Let me say what we have all been thinking. Tex you just dont like BStew cause hes black.
Becho,
That was a joke right? You don’t seriously think that?
The problem with Stewart has nothing to do about wealth, personality, or color you uncultured scoundrel. Statements like that really rankle Tex and his legal team. The facts are that BStew was promoted from secretary to CEO. From a position coach of the league’s 26th-ranked pass defense to Defensive Coordinator of America’s Team.
He’s the most unqualified coordinator in the NFL, period. And with the likes of Jim Johnson and Steve Spagnuolo in the division, the Cowboys can’t afford to have their defensive coordinator, even if he is just a glorified male hostess, learning on the job. The time is now, and the weak links must be fixed for the Cowboys to have a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl.
Theres that comparison again.
Bstew, be he black or white, doesn’t coach against other defensive coordinators.
Barry Switzer and faux gurus such as Brian Billick and Jon Gruden “head coached” teams to Super Bowls, Fantso Pantso. Also, teams can get to the Super Bowl with quote en quote weak links. The Bears got there the Super Bowl before last with a Special Olympian as their QB.
Have abandonment issues from childhood? A fetish for scapegoats?
Yeah, and with me knowing several Eagle fans, you get the idea that they haven’t been happy with their LBs for several years….
Yeah, Spagnuolo was promoted from LB Coach to Defensive Coordinator when he moved from the Eagles to the Giants….
Yeah, Tex still doesn’t has the slightest idea of what he’s spewing….
Coaching what you have and getting the most of it’s part of what makes a coach a really good one…. Spagnuolo got the best of what he had, which was mostly average talent and got average results. Stewart did the same. And both were under the shadow of 2 of the most bright and experienced Defensive Coordinators in the League and both coordinators couldn’t elevate the performance, either….
Raf: did you get the sense that everything was running smoothly? I mean, were there any problems that might affect things down the road, any discord that could cause what should be a great season to have a problem? I know, sounds stupid, but man this sounds like our year.
One final point before Tex goes to diner with the “who’s who” of Santa Barbara County… if Brian Stewart were let go, would any team, college or pro, offer him the same position of Coordinator? Hell No.
Now ask that same question about Jason Garrett.
Tune in tommorrow at this time gentlemen for another hour of “the acumen of tex.”
I know i’ll be enthralled.
Tex, Tex, Tex.
I told you to stay with the humor, but what did you do?
Stick with what works, my man. Crazy-sounding diatribes do not.
yeah it was a joke, lets relax guys
guys so i pissed Tex off a little, do i get any street cred? (Tex please do not make fun of my low brow attempt at soliciting chic praise)
thats cause i am usually a tex apologist, ha.
Honestly Tex you have no reason to believe Bstew would not get a coordinator position with another team. All you know are the same things I know, because we probably read the same websites. All i know is that the BStew’s unit finished strong last year with two weak secondary players. The defense will be amazing this year, and BStew will deserve some credit for that. (be it street or other)
BTW Tex, what do you think of Ray Sherman?
It takes a def. coordinator 2-3 years to get a defense in the top ten.
Layoff man til halfway through the season, then we will know more