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Cowboys Camp Report 11: Nick City

The Cowboys struggled to maintain sharpness Saturday morning, working their third consecutive practice in full pads.  The 90 minutes workout eshewed the 9-on-9 and 1-on-1 drills from the past few days and jumped directly from the positional workouts into 11-on-11 square-offs.

The coaches put a twist into the day’s work, playing the 1st team wide receivers and backs with 2nd team QB Jon Kitna and the second o-line, while promoting Sam Hurd, Patrick Crayton and Kevin Ogletree to the first unit.  The units then worked on red zone and yellow zone plays, starting series just inside the 10, just inside the 20 and just inside the 30.

The switches show that receivers do matter.  The 2nd unit had its sharpest workout, as Kitna had better receivers than he’s normally used to.  Romo, meanwhile, had his most erratic workout.  He had to throw away several tosses because he had no open targets to locate.

The workout was the team’s 11th in a week, and the minor pulls and sprains are adding up.  Dez Bryant did not show on the field today, but the trainers had a solid eight defense prospects rehabbing in the far end zone:  Sean Lee, Sean Lissemore, Pat Watkins, Jason Hatcher, Josh Brent, Stephen Hodge, Steve Octavien and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah all missed the scrimmages.  The most encouraging news involves Hodge, who dressed in full pads, but worked with the trainers.  He may finally be close to returning to the practice field, though he sports a large brace on his left knee.

Two Hand Wedgies

Joe DeCamillis worked his klckoff return units hard this morning, with special emphasis on his wedge groupings.  Unlike yesterday, where Joe D had single-man wedges, today, he deployed a single two-man wedge, with floating blockers on each edge, who fanned out to handle would-be tacklers trying to crash from the edges of the coverage.

With top return prospect Bryant out, the veteran stand-bys took their turns this morning.  Miles Austin and Felix Jones got their first turns with the top return group.  DeCamillis may have intended to use them all along, but he had used Bryant and Kevin Ogletree in yesterday’s initial return practice.

 The team went directly to red-zone 11-on-11 and 4th CB leader Cletis Gordon opened a strong practice by blanketing Miles Austin at the short right end zone pylon, forcing a Romo incompletion.  Patrick Crayton caught a pass front of Jamar Wall for a 1st down, but the first offense’s series came to an abrupt end when the surging Brandon Williams sniffed out a Sam Hurd reverse and caused a huge loss.

Kitna led the second offense against the first defense and moved the ball, finding Martellus Bennett over the middle and later hit Miles Austin in the end zone.  Jason Garrett surprised the starters by calling a quarterback draw for the relatively immobile Kitna.  The QB followed strong blocking off the right side into the end zone.  Kitna kept the big guys off balance by faking a rocket pitch to Felix Jones before finding the slumming Roy Williams open in the back middle of the end zone.   Working with the starting skill position guys clearly suited Kitna.

Romo’s ragged day continued on his next sequence.  He saw Witten drop one of his balls up the left sideline.  Romo rolled out right on a subsequent play and tried forcing a pass across his body when he found the primary target covered.  Gordon picked off Romo and kept running until he was end zone bound.  Felix Jones gave chase but the play summed up the entire first offense’s up-and-down first practice.

On the plus side, the run blocking was productive and consistent.  Leonard Davis is pulling more on traps to the edge and the Cowboys have balance on edge runs, since Doug Free and Marc Colombo can both pull and pull effectively.  Colombo’s toss right has been a money run for Dallas, but Flozell Adams wasn’t the pulling type.  Free showed last year that he can get out in space and Dallas is running lots of tosses and sweeps to his edge this summer.  

Notes:

It was an up-and-down morning for rookie Jamar Wall, who is trying to keep pace with Cletis Gordon.  He broke up a Romo pass for Sam Hurd but then let Hurd get behind him for a score on the very next play.  On the subsequent call, Dallas ran a quick screen right, and Colombo threw the over-matched Wall onto his backside with a well-timed punchout at the goal-line.   Wall does make plays, but he doesn’t have Gordon’s consistency at this time.

Fans shouldn’t designate Wall to their mental practice squads yet.  He’s playing the slot, which shows that he has good lateral coverage skills to both sidelines.  Recall the battle between Evan Oglesby and Alan Ball two camps ago.  Oglesby was the star of early camp, picking off several passes in the first two weeks.  Yet, the coaches kept Ball at the final cut down.  They cited Ball’s potential;  Oglesby was a multi-year vet and was likely at his ceiling, while Ball had room to grow.  That decision looks wise today, as Ball starts at free safety.  Gordon has a few camps under his belt.  Wall is seven days into his pro career.  The Cowboys may make a similar decision with him a few weeks down the road.  Or, they may decide to keep both players if Gordon keep producing.  Quality corners are like quality pass rushers or good staring pitchers — you can never have enough. 

– Pat McQuistan continues to struggle with agile interior rushers.  Jay Ratliff ate him up with a swim move today.  This opens the door for one of the kids, if the Cowboys decide to keep four guards.  They may just stick with Montrae Holland.   

– Anthony Spencer uncoiled some strong rush moves today.  He beat Alex Barron around the edge, something few of the team’s ends or OLBs have done all camp.  Spencer showed a real burst, suggesting he’s not bringing the A rush on every down.  Spencer told me in our Maple Street Press interview (shameless plug) that he’ worked hard on his core and lower body strength, so he can turn the corner without slowing down this year.  

– Trickeration City:  Dallas practiced a halfback toss in the 11-on-air drills and it worked perfectly against a live defense.  Marion Barber waited until the defense committed to stopping an apparent toss run before he raised the ball and flipped it to Miles Austin for a score.  

Quote of the Day :  ”He shocked me.  He just shocked me.”  A head-shaking fan after Roy Williams dropped a fade from Tony Romo in the left corner of the end zone.  

Don’t fret Roy, a lot of your offensive teammates also had shocking drops and throws this morning.  

Cowboys Camp Report 10: Grit and Bear It

The Cowboys finished their first week with a key and unwanted addition to the injured list, as Dez Bryant injured an ankle on the second to last play of the final 11-on-11 drill.  Bryant dove to catch a low pass and had trailing CB Orlando Scandrick roll up his right leg.  Bryant knelt on the turf for a few seconds, flexing the ankle before he hopped to his feet and tried walking off the problem.  He dropped to the turf in pain and was assisted off the field by two trainers, who kept Bryant’s full weight off the injured joint.  Results of the obligatory MRI have not yet been released.

The injury overshadowed another speedy, spirited practice in full pads.  Dallas went through the week one routing of special teams, positional drills, 9-on-9 running running drills, 1-on-1 passing drills, simultaneous 6-on-7 passing drills and 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 pass blocking drills capped by an 11-on-11 scrimmage.  

The internal theme was special situations.  Joe DeCamillis’ guys worked extensively on on-side kickoffs, showing a novel two kicker formation in one variant.  Both Mat McBrian and David Buehler took the field and made the receiving team guess where the ball was going.  D’s guys showed a creative mix of onside kicks, from the double-kicker set and from the standard kickoff formations.  

Dallas then worked on kickoff returns.  Of note was the shortened returner roster: today Dez Bryant and Kevin Ogletree split the practice returns.  DeCamillis drilled his wedge blockers and sealing the edges of coverage.  Last year, teams broke up many Cowboys returns by out-flanking the central blockers.  The coaches want to seal these outside lanes this year.  

Before the 9-on-9 the running backs and linebackers ran a one-on-one receiving drill. Felix Jones was the star, beating every linebacker who tried to cover him short and deep.  Jones raced past Jason Williams on one dash up the hash and finished the drill by forcing Keith Brooking to hold him — repeatedly.  

And Now Let Us Praise Aquaman

I’m the guy who suggested shopping Martellus Bennett for OL depth, so it’s on me to point out his strong first practice.  Bennett took his place with the first offense and put on a blocking clinic in the 9-on-9 drill.  He shoved Marcus Spears on his first down, creating a huge running lane off right tackle.  Bennett then sealed off all the linebackers he faced on subsequent plays.  He ended his downs by flopping on top of Spears after putting the end on the turf.   Aquaman’s understudy John Phillips had his trouble with Anthony Spencer, who spun him around on one of their matchups.

The first lines showed more mobility today.  Leonard Davis pulled left and kicked out an OLB on the drill’s first play.  Kyle Kosier and Andre Gurode rolled Junior Siavii on an inside run.  Backup Travis Bright looked shaky in his drills, while 3rd teamer Mike Tepper made a standout block in his units sequence, putting Jason Williams on his backside with a strong punchout. 

The 1-on-1 pass rush drill offered more reinforcement of early impressions.  Doug Free handed his reps with Demarcus Ware (don’t over-react folks, he got TWO of them).   Leonard Davis handled two Jay Ratliff charges, one of them a spin move which Bigg rolled with ease.  Igor Olshansky showed better hand usage than last year, where he bull rushed almost exclusively.  I can’t say this will put a lot of sacks on Igor’s resume this year, but this development bears watching in the pre-season games. 

The final 11-on-11 also told us more of what we already knew, or suspected.  Some quick notes from that:

– The first team offense tried a naked rocket pitch left to Felix Jones.  Demarcus Ware was not fooled and dragged Jones down in the backfield. 

– Orlando Scandrick dropped an easy pick after jumping an out route off a Tony Romo semi-rollout.

– The 2nd nickel receiving set of Hurd, Crayton and Bryant worked several times with Tony Romo and the first offensive line.

– The old guys Crayton and Hurd made big grabs and back-to-back downs, with Crayton catching a diagonal over the middle beyond newbie Teddy Williams.  Hurd made a diving snag over the middle to match up.

– Robert Brewster continues to look stout at RT, and was moved to LT for a few plays.  That may be a short-lived experiment, as Victor Butler blew past him and knocked the ball out of Jon Kitna’s hand.

– The third team OTs couldn’t pass block Peter Griffin.

Notes

– Because We Care:  A scalawag in a Washington Redskins t-shirt made repeated trips up and down the near stands, drawing boos, which he appeared to crave.  

– Injury updates: Akwasi Owusu-Ansah ran with a lot more zip on the sidelines today and appears much closer to action.  John Brent also ran with a small blue splint on his right hand.  He was accompanied by Jason Hatcher, who had a brace on his left elbow.  Both also seem close to returning.

– Trickeration city:  Jason Garrett unveiled a package which put all three running backs in the backfield together.  At some point in the season you’ll see what he wants them to do.  

Martellus Bennett (ankle) expected to practice today.

Martellus Bennett (ankle) expected to practice today.

Cowboys Training Camp: What the Position Coaches Are Saying

One of the nice things about training camp is the access we as fans get to the players and coaches on a daily basis, even though most of us are not physically present in San Antonio.

The level of reporting from camp is simply stunning, starting of course with BTBs most excellent coverage. It feels like we’re getting progress reports and even soundbites of almost every player at least once a day.

As I was clicking through all the different reports on the different sites, I couldn’t help but notice that over the last two or three days, a lot of different position coaches on the coaching staff have been quoted in different articles.

Taken individually, these quotes are often used to provide color or to spice up an article about a specific topic or player. Taken together they can help paint an interesting overall picture of how the various position battles are progressing and which players are coming along well.

Offensive line coach Hudson Houck likes what he sees at left tackle.

“I think we’ve got two real good players,” Houck said. “We’ve got five preseason games, so we’ll find out which guy we’re going to put in there. It’s pretty open. Free has earned the right to get the first look, but we’re certainly open to seeing what Alex can do.”

Tight end John Phillips impressed offensive coordinator Jason Garrett with his hunting habits, both on and off the field:

“He hunts bobcats in the offseason, so I think that says enough about him,” offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said jokingly. “He’s not always the flashiest,” Garrett said, “but typically, he gets the job done. We’re excited about him.”

Tight ends coach John Garrett joins the growing crowd of John Phillips fans.

“He sat back there when he wasn’t getting a lot of reps and watched No. 82,” tight ends coach John Garrett. “He watched the model of how to do it in every aspect of the game. He’s not dumb. He knows who to watch and who to emulate, and he has picked up a lot from Jason.”

Linebackers coach Reggie Herring thinks that the Cowboys have the best depth he’s seen yet at linebacker.

“We have more speed and more ability depth wise than we have in the three years I’ve been here,” Herring said.

Of course, with Anthony Spencer on your team, it’s not that hard to get excited

“He was already very difficult to block and deal with as a rusher or a run defender,” Cowboys linebackers coach Reggie Herring said. “He’s building consistency, and he’s really established himself as a player. He’s just applying himself more day to day, and we’re very pleased right now with his attitude and his work ethic. It looks like he’s got a chance right now, the way he’s going, to pick up from where he left off last year by the end.”

Reggie Herring wants to see a little more of Sean Lee before getting too excited.

“We’re very excited about Sean. I’m not going to declare anybody anything until they line up against NFL competition and prove it. Right now, he’s done a nice job at practice. He’s doing what we asked of him. He’s shown nice ability in the run and pass game. He’s a smart, instinctive player. So far, he’s everything we thought he’d be. So far. Now, let’s go play a few games and make an evaluation.”

Tim MacMahon from ESPNDallas reports that word around Valley Ranch is that there’s only one linebacker the Cowboys have graded higher in the past few drafts than Sean Lee. That would be Patrick Willis, the 49ers 3-time Pro Bowler & 2-time First-Team All-Pro. No wonder Reggie Herring is trying to keep expectations in check.

But overall, Herring sounds pleased with the progress of his linebacker corp:

Even Leon Williams is having a great camp right now – a guy we didn’t expect. Jason Williams is somewhat inconsistent but he shows flashes of great ability. We’re working on the consistency, the maturity factor with him. Sean Lee is an excellent, excellent prospect to be a Cowboy here. He’s doing things very well – very talented.

Then you take a Victor Butler. Talk about turning the light on. In the last three days, all of a sudden he’s starting to rush the passer better than he ever has. The reemergence of a Brandon Williams, whom we didn’t have last year, who’s an explosive pass rusher. Steve Octavien who’s probably a harder worker than anybody we have at OL’s, who’s making plays and is productive.

Coach Joe DeCamillis, special teams wizard and coach, wants Dez Bryant to be The Return Man.

“He’s special with the ball in his hands and we’re going to try to help him as much as we can,” DeCamillis said, adding, “I think he’s got a chance to be exceptional at both.”

And the Cowboys do need Dez to step up, because kickoff returns were not something the Cowboys excelled at last year.

“Kickoff returns is definitely something we want to improve on,” DeCamillis said. “We were above average to good on almost everything last year, but kickoff returns we just weren’t ever comfortable. We’re emphasizing that.”

Running backs coach Skip Peete has an interesting idea about how to get each back enough touches.

“But a lot of times, it’s not necessarily the number of carries you get,” Peete said, “it’s the touches. If you get 15 carries and 10 catches, that’s your 25 touches.” “I love that,” Peete said. “There’s nothing like having a running back in open space. You get big yardage.” [emphasis mine]

Secondary coach Dave Campo gives us some insight into the position battle for the 4th corner spot.

“I’d say Cletis Gordon has been in the lead, he’s got the experience,” Campo said following Wednesday’s practice. “I like Cletis. I think he’s made as much improvement as anybody out here. I feel like he’s really embraced the scheme and he’s working very well and he offers something the other guys don’t have, he has size and uses his hands and he can be more physical than the other guys.”

“[Jamar Wall] is starting to make some plays and I think that’s going to be his strength. Sometimes he looks a little herky-jerky out there and not real smooth. But there’s been a lot of guys who played that looked real well but they don’t play very well. He has playmaking ability. When it’s for real, he’s a physical player and some of that stuff will begin to show up.”

“Bryan McCann is technically sometimes better than the veteran guys, just footwork, break-and-drive and all those kinds of things, but he’s 186 pounds, [Wall] is 196 and [Gordon] 200. What’s he going to do when the pads come on? Are the big receivers going to push him and that kind of thing? He looks a little smoother than Wall, but Wall I’ve seen play but you have to see who is going to be a factor.”

Dave Campo also wants Allan Ball to focus exclusively on Free Safety

“Right now, he’s at level 101,” secondary coach Dave Campo said. “He’s working to 201. He’s close to 201. If we get to 201, we’re going to be pretty good. “Not many guys get to 401. I’m at 401.”

“He’ll make some plays,” Campo said. “He’s still feeling his way around a little bit. “The No. 1 thing for the guy back there is to make sure we’re right. We can be aggressive, but we’ve got to make sure we’re right first. If all four guys are right, we’re going to be pretty good.”

Wide receivers coach Ray Sherman thinks highly of the WR groups’ talent level

“I think we’ve got a little more talent than we had in Minnesota, little more than I had in Green Bay and even in San Francisco,” Sherman said. “Overall, talent-wise as a group. Now we had some individuals that were very talent but overall talent is probably the best.”

Ray Sherman also hints at the role Dez Bryant might play in the coming season.

“He is learning to play on the outside,” receivers coach Ray Sherman said. “If you throw a lot at him, you’re going to confuse him and slow his growth down. You have to get him in a spot and get him comfortable, with the system and also have him understand all the other components of the route, what those entail. Then, you can branch him out to other parts.”

Chris Boniol loves David Buehler’s temperament when it comes to kicking FG’s, thinks that nothing bothers him, and likes the authority with which Buehler kicks.

“David’s a unique individual with unique physical skills. It’s not my job to teach him how to kick - he knows how to kick - it’s how to kick better.”

“Nothing bothers him. I don’t know if you’ve watched this in OTAs, our fields were horrible, we got wind – we did everything we could to make things tough on him. And nothing bothers him. If you have a bad kick, if you have a bad day, he rebounds. He responds and comes back positive. And that’s important.”

“Yesterday he was 3 for 4 but he hit the upright from 35. Well, he came back and hit a 46 and 48. With some authority. And that’s an important thing to see in a kicker. How do you respond after a miss? He does a good job of that.”

Quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson sees Tony Romo off to a better start than last year.

“He’s had a fabulous camp so far,” Wade Wilson said. “He plays practice as real as anybody I’ve ever been around. He treats it like a game. When our guys are rushing him, he has a complete understanding of where he wants to go with the ball. If he has to move to get rid of the ball, he knows where to get it out. If everything is clean, he is throwing the ball as accurate as I’ve seen. Better than last year.” [...] “He’s asserting his personality onto the offense as well. In the meetings and on the practice field, it comes in how he approaches things every day.”

Cowboys Camp Report 9: Trading Haymakers

Full pads returned, as expected, and the Cowboys used them to drill passing game matchups.  The final eleven on eleven drill drill proceeded by two extensive 6-on-7 passing drills, where the offense and defense worked mostly on working the nickel defense against the 11 package offense, with one back and three receivers.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the chicken-egg question which appears as most camps progress regards familiarity.  Is a player whose work slowly improves getting past the off-season rust, and truly improving, or is he merely becoming overly familiar with the moves of the player or players lining up across from him?

In the unit-versus-unit case, the results have oscillated from one to the other;  in the early practices the defense was ahead, shutting off lanes and making pass completions difficult.  The linebackers grabbed several picks in the opening weekend.  Then, the offense surged ahead.  On Monday and Tuesday, Tony Romo’s first team was very good at handling blitzes, with Romo completing quick passes across the field to all his options.

The last couple of days have seen the matchups settle.  Yesterday the positive plays skewed in the defense’s favor, but only slightly so.  Today’s scrimmages resembled a heavyweight tussle, where the combatants exchanged heavy blows in the ring’s center.  The offense would win a play, then see the defense force an incompletion.  Romo would respond with a toss, then have to check down on the subsequent down for a minimal game.

The offensive/defensive ledger finished roughly 50/50, which is about what you would expect from two quality units.  All players on both units are capable of making plays and they did so this afternoon.  I get the impression the Cowboys might like to start hitting players in different colored uniforms, and they still have a week to go before they prep for Cincinnati.

Atomized Wedgies

As usual, Joe DeCamillis’ guys got first run of practice.  Joe D continued this morning’s work on kickoff coverage.  We also got out first look at how D’s guys will try to improve their so-so kickoff returns.  Dez Bryant will get his reps as the primary returner.  In front of him, Dallas will, if practice has any accuracy, work with non-wedges;  today, the four linemen and an upman spread out in a five man group ahead of Bryant.  When he fielded the kickoff they would move to the left or to the right and block.  Never, however, did they join hands in pairs, as the rules allow.  We’ll have to see if this approach is carried into the games.  

The offenses then ran a runs-only 9-on-9 drill against the rotating defenses.  The early downs saw the first-team O-linemen work their pet plays.  Kyle Kosier pulled on the power right counter and kicked out a linebacker, creating a huge running lane.  On a subsequent play Marc Colombo pulled to lead a long toss right, his signature play and Dallas’ best in ‘08.  The 2nd line left-siders Alex Barron and Montrae Holland created big space on a toss left against the 2nd defense, but the interior linemen on this O-line had a lot of trouble generating a push when the 1st D rotated in.  

Mr. 75% Rises to Perhaps 80%

The linemen then retired to the far sideline for drills, leaving the middle of the field for an extended 6-on-7 drill.  Here the red-light/green-light nature of the session emerged.  Orlando Scandrick made a stop on Jason Witten before Witten ripped the middle of the defensive secondary two plays later.  Jason Williams smothered Tashard Choice on the next play but Kevin Ogletree got behind Danny McCray on a deep post.  

Second-year LB Jason Williams intrigued.  I’ve called him Mr. 75%, because he on top of roughly three quarters of his plays, but was suffering brain freezes on the fourth.  Today, he was targeted on several plays and raised the ratio.  He’s still getting beaten, but not by much, and is breaking up passes and making instant, smothering stops on others.  I still think the team may have some reservations about playing him on every down but Williams looks far more comfortable, in the base and in the nickel sets. 

The final 11-on-11 was another split decision and the results often depended on which units took the field.  The first team defense overwhelmed the 3rd team units, but had balanced results against the first offense.  Marion Barber ripped a long run on a counter to Colombo’s side but Marcus Spears stuffed a draw on the next play and the quietly impressive Orlando Scandrick blew up a flanker screen for Miles Austin.  

These guys are getting a bit too familiar with each other.  On to Friday. 

Notes

– The Cowboys worked again on red zone passes this afternoon.  A moving pocket will be part of Dallas’ approach, as will mis-direction.  The Cowboys have practiced a lot of bootlegs and rollouts this week, in addition to their gaggle of screen passes and down-the-field throws.

– Hands up: The linebackers’ many interceptions this summer are no accident;  Reggie Herring has drilled his guys every day on catching passes.  Not knocking them down.  Not getting near the back to discourage throws.  The Cowboys LBs work every session on putting both hands on the ball and hanging on.  Some of these guys are getting pretty good at snagging hard passes.  Some could probably pull Mike Vrabel duty and be goal-line tight ends.

– The NFL refs watched the practice and called “quiet flags.”  The sideline judges would raise their red flags if they saw a false start infraction.  The offender would then have to take a down off.  I counted three, though more penalties may have occurred.  Doug Free, Montrae Holland and Marc Colombo each took a penalty. 

– Buehler watch:  David Bueher got more reps with the zebras scoring and was perfect on six attempts.  They were short attempts — the longest was just 30 yards long. 

– The backups have wheels too:  Scott Sicko showed some downfield moxie in the 6-on-7 drill, losing Gerald Sensabaugh with an out and up move.  The veteran grabbed Sicko’s jersey, but the rookie still made the grab down the right hashmark.

– Witten beats everybody.  2008 was Camp T.O., where Terrell Owens schooled every corner who tried to stop him.  2010 is Camp Witten.  No linebacker had slowed him down.  Today The Senator again blew past Jason Williams and split the safeties while catching a Romo post.  Williams is Dallas’ fastest LB and Witten has regularly put him in the rear-view mirror.  

– Because it’s time to make a move:  backup CB Bryan McCann made a crowd-pleasing pick late in the 6-on-7. He’s got several competitors in front of him and needs to carry plays like this over to the real games.

After practice at the Alamodome, Patrick Crayton addressed such topics as the difference between…

Football Outsiders’ Bill Barnwell Talks with Blogging The Boys

Those of you who follow BTB regularly know that we are huge fans of the type of advanced statistical NFL analysis done by Football Outsiders. We have used Football Outsiders (FO) statistics quite frequently here on BTB in the past to quantify and solidify our arguments and we will continue to use their unique statistical analysis and insight in the upcoming season.

FO publish some of the most interesting and incisive work you can find anywhere on football, and if you look closely, you’ll find that many BTB members are also members of footballoutsiders.com. If you’ve never heard of them, here’s a good introduction.

FO’s managing editor, Bill Barnwell, was kind enough to take some time and answer Dallas Cowboys questions from his FO perspective. A huge thanks to Bill.

“Bill Barnwell graduated from Northeastern University in 2006 and served as the Sports Editor for IGN.com before becoming FO’s Managing Editor. Bill has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN The Magazine, as well as FOXSports.com and Rotoworld.com, while his research has been cited in papers around the country and on the Freakonomics blog. He also serves as a statistical consultant to a Major League Baseball team. Bill currently writes the “Quick Reads” and “Fantasy Matchups” columns each week for ESPN.com.”

For those of you who may have missed it, FO have just published the ‘Football Outsiders Almanac 2010’ and if you’re even remotely interested in football statistics and analysis, it is a must-read. The Almanac is available as a .pdf file or in book form and it can be purchased here or from Amazon here.

The Interview with Bill Barnwell after the break.

Blogging The Boys: Before we get into specific questions about this year’s Almanac, we’ve got to talk about the elephant in the room: Here in Cowboy land, we have the strong feeling that FO’s statistical model, for whatever reason, consistently underrates the Cowboys and consistently overrates teams like the Eagles and the Patriots, whose DVOA rating for example is often higher than their league W-L record. Is there a specific aspect of the Eagles or Patriots game that makes them perform better on the FO statistical model?

Bill Barnwell: Hmmm. I think we got that reputation in 2008, when we started doing a feature with Tim MacMahon at his Dallas Morning News blog. That year, the Eagles had a higher DVOA than the Cowboys for pretty much the entire season, despite the fact that the Eagles appeared to be in turmoil and the Cowboys started off the year on that great run.

I think if there’s anything to that idea, it’s that the Patriots and Eagles are two of the most pass-happy teams in the league, and DVOA rewards the sort of consistent gains and repeated first downs that such a system entails. Those are two of the most successful teams of the past ten years, so I don’t know if I’d say that DVOA is overrating them, but I expect that some might disagree.

Last year, the Cowboys had the fifth-best DVOA in the league; the Eagles were fourth. If we included the playoffs, the Cowboys would be ahead of the Eagles. The Patriots were third, but they played a much harder schedule than either the Cowboys or the Eagles. If we don’t include strength of schedule, Dallas ranks ahead of New England. I don’t think any of that is unreasonable. The Cowboys were a very good football team last year by any measure, including DVOA.

BTB: The 2010 Almanac FO projected the Cowboys with 7.5 wins for the 2010 season and finishing last in the NFC East behind the first place Eagles, second place Redskins and third place Giants. Can you briefly explain how you arrived at that projection, and what are the Cowboys’ best- and worst-case scenarios for 2010?

BB: Well, I think there’s a fair amount of things our projection system would be concerned with when it comes to Dallas. First is that thing we always talk about with the Cowboys — health. Dallas had the league’s second-fewest AGL (Adjusted Games Lost, our injury metric) a year ago. Although I think the world of Jim Maurer and the work that his crew does, that’s not going to happen again; their ranks in defensive AGL over the previous four years were 12th, 8th, 22th, and 19th. Obviously, an injury to DeMarcus Ware or Jay Ratliff would be catastrophic. The expected increase in injuries should drive a decline in a defense that was only 12th in the league in DVOA a year ago. There’s also not the depth available that the team had a few years ago, as the poor drafts at the end of the Parcells Era have come home to roost.

There are also holes that our projection system doesn’t really like, especially the one at left tackle. You could argue that Doug Free will be a very good left tackle at this level, but the truth is that we don’t know yet. (I can tell you Alex Barron isn’t.) The offensive line is creaky and, after years of staying healthy, has begun to collapse. There’s very little experience at safety. The schedule’s tough.

I think the best-case scenario is that Dallas stays healthy, wins a bunch of divisional games, and goes 11-5 and takes the NFC East. If that happened, I certainly wouldn’t be shocked; it’s what happened last year. In the worst-case, Romo or Ware go down with a big injury, Doug Free is Pettiti 2.0, the secondary is a sieve, and they go 6-10 and Jerry Jones drops the scoreboard on Wade Phillips.

BTB: I’d argue that the Cowboys depth on the offensive skill positions, WR, RB and TE and even backup QB is some of the best in the NFL, and our secondary and LB depth is not far behind either. You’ve argued that the Cowboys are short in depth. What do you base that on?

BB: I don’t think I can agree with you there. Certainly, I think the world of Tashard Choice, and Martellus Bennett is a very good second tight end. If you include Dez Bryant as wide receiver depth, I think he’s a talented player, but rookie wideouts aren’t exactly sure things by any stretch of the imagination, even guys who end up as really good players in this league.

Jon Kitna hasn’t played since 2008 and he wasn’t all that good when he was in the lineup. Again, I think highly of Orlando Scandrick, but he’s going to be playing most snaps anyway, he can’t play on the outside, and there’s nothing behind him. The starters at safety are weak, let alone the reserves, and we don’t know anything about Sean Lee. I think we’ll have to agree to disagree.

BTB: Earlier this year you examined the injury rates of all NFL teams based on the FO Adjusted Games Lost stat and concluded: “Among the six healthiest teams were organizations that have made a habit of showing up at the bottom of these lists: Tennessee, Kansas City, and Dallas. […] While we’ve established that injury totals for a team tend to regress to the mean, it’s becoming apparent that those organizations might be quantifiably better at keeping their players healthy than the average team“. Is this something you factored into your win projections, or did you assume a regression to the mean for the Cowboys in terms of injury?

BB: We do factor this into the win projections. I expect the Cowboys to regress towards the mean in injuries, but I don’t expect them to regress in the way that a total flukily-healthy team like the Broncos might.

BTB: Dallas is not the only team that you project to finish far below where the majority of observers would rank them. The Saints, Vikings and Chargers all project badly. What type of reactions have your projections elicited so far, and what were the initial reactions at FO headquarters when you saw the projected results for the first time?

I don’t know if I’d say they project badly; they all have win projections between eight and nine wins, which I think isn’t stunning. If we know anything about the majority of observers heading into a season, it’s that they fail to account for how much change there is likely to be in a team’s record from year-to-year. (2009 was a notable exception in this regard.)

Virtually no teams win 11-12 games year after year; whether it be due to injury, a tougher schedule, a change in performance, bad luck … a fair amount of them drop back to the pack. When our model projects this, I don’t think it surprises any of us as writers; it’s just taking a longer-term view of the league and its yearly dynamics than most others.

BTB: Heading into last season, Miles Austin was the #1 prospect on FO’s 25 Top NFL Prospects list which you personally compile annually. At that point, Austin had not started a single NFL game, yet you put him in the #1 spot. Hats off for that. Now of course we’re all curious: Did any other Cowboys make the list this year?

BB: See! We don’t hate the Cowboys! The Cowboys were represented again on this year’s list; Tashard Choice was fourth and Orlando Scandrick was sixth.

BTB: FO also does a lot of research into how college players will perform in the NFL. What do your projections say about Dez Bryant?

BB: We use a statistic called Playmaker Score to measure how wideouts will do at the pro level; it’s not an exact science by any means, but it’s a good way of separating guys into buckets of “Likely to succeed” and “Likely to fail”. Dez Bryant had the best Playmaker Score of any wideout taken in the first two rounds of this year’s draft. That’s good news for his pro prospects. Again, I don’t know if I’d expect him to contribute at a high level this year, but he should be an effective receiver going forward.

BTB: The Cowboys offense ranked in the top 5 in terms of DVOA last season in both pass offense (4th) and run offense (3rd), but ranked only 15th on pass defense. What were the issues from a DVOA perspective?

BB: I actually wrote a lot about this in the Maple Street Press Cowboys Annual that Dave Halprin curated. I think the biggest issue was the regression of the pass rush, driven by the decline in DeMarcus Ware’s numbers. Of course, relying on a guy to get 20 sacks a year is crazy. Although the ends in Wade Phillips’s system aren’t expected to get lots of pass pressure, they should be able to do better than four sacks.

On the whole, the Cowboys had the league’s best sack rate (sacks / dropbacks) in 2008, but fell off to 12th in 2009, something that will need to improve for the pass defense to halt what’s been a three-year slide in overall performance.

BTB: If you were Jerry Jones for a day, what’s the one decision you would make before the season starts to improve this football team?

BB: I’d get out of the way, but if I did that, I wouldn’t be Jerry Jones!

Cowboys Camp Report 8: The Defense, in a Decision

The shoulder pads returned this afternoon, as the Cowboys eased back towards full pads, which should come in tomorrow afternoon’s practice.  

Today’s late session saw the special teams turn to kickoff coverage and returns, while the offense and defense stressed nickel sets.  When the teams met for the final 11-on-11 work, the defense regained the upper hand, after a couple of days which saw the offense beating pressure with quick releases and solid blitz pickups.  

The defense debuted its “routine,” a preening, strutting, barking group dance which preceeded each series.  The networks will no doubt pick up on it, if the defense doesn’t get ahead of themselves and try naming it, trademarking it, building a song around it or marketing it in some way.

The special teams groups wasted little time in progressing from piecemeal kickoff drills to the full package.  After stretches the team set up and went full kickoff coverage units against full kickoff return units.  For those looking into lineups for some insight on rosters rankings, here is the first K.O. coverage bunch:

Alan Ball; Kevin Ogletree; Jason Williams; Victor Butler; Sam Hurd; David Buehler; Jesse Holley; Steve Octavien; Deon Anderson; Titus Ryan; Gerald Sensabaugh

There may be some significance in those names or maybe not.  The first and second group wedge blockers are a who’s who of backup offensive linemen, with one bubble DE blended in:

 

• Phil Costa and Mike Tepper
• Will Barker and Pat McQuistan
• Sam Young and Travis Bright
• Robert Brewster and Marcus Dixon

 

Dez Bryant got several kickoff returns and energized the crowd by refusing to give up on a return even when half a dozen players surrounded him and tagged him.  He’s having fun, this number 88. 

The offense and defense then broke into groups and worked on nickel pass plays.  The offense went eleven-against-air, practicing proper assignments.  On the opposite end of the field the defense worked against stopping nickel sets.  The “offense” donned colored tuques (I’m making like Wade Phillips and giving “balaclavas” the afternoon off) so the secondary could recognize backs, tight ends and receivers.  Practice is making permanent as there were far fewer mixups today than there have been in past practices. 

The team again went to the “split-screen” work, where the offensive and defensive linemen practiced one-on-one and two-on-two blocking, while the skill position players went 6-on-7 against the nickel coverage guys.  If you are trying to read some tea leaves here, know a couple of things:

1.  The Cowboys practice press coverage in nickel most of the time.  They give the receivers very little space.  

2.  The first and second nickel packages deployed as follows:

First team:  LBs — James and Brooking, CBs — Newman, Jenkins and Scandrick; Ss — Ball and Sensabaugh

Second team: LBs - J. Williams and L. Williams, CBs - Gordon, Wall and McCann;  Ss- Hamlin and Church

On the second team, Wall plays the critical slot corner role.  I don’t know if this means he’s running a bit ahead of Gordon, who has made some plays on the left side.  We probably won’t get a clearer picture of the 4th corner race until the games begin.  

When the teams worked the final 11-on-11 drill, the defense came out barking, and promptly notched two sacks on the first offense.  Anthony Spencer claimed a coverage sack from Tony Romo, who found nobody open and gave up.  On the second play, the right side of the line whiffed their protection, giving Spencer a clean shot at Romo, who slammed the ball to the turf in frustration.  

On the next play, Dallas split Jason Witten wide left, on the edge of the formation and the pressing defense shifted Keith Brooking out to cover him.  Romo tried a fade towards the right sideline for Dez Bryant, who juggled the ball between two defenders before dropping it, for perhaps the first time all camp.  

The defense landed some haymakers but the offense countered with a long draw play to the left, where Doug Free and Kyle Kosier blew open a wide running lane.  

When the 2nd offensive and defensive units replaced the starters, Orlando Scandrick broke up a ball from the right corner spot.  Kevin Ogletree made an appearance, with a leaping grab in the middle of the field.  

Sophomore Watch

The second year guys are back in the mix after all the early draft picks were knocked out by major injuries last year.  Here’s a progress report:

– Jason Williams looks better.  More reps are doing his brain some good.  I don’t see the coverage mixups from a few days ago.  I’d like to see him work against the top units more, but he broke up a pass today and is finding his way to the ball.

– Robert Brewster appears to be getting into the swing of things.  His pass protection has been better the last three sessions.  The team is working him almost exclusively at right tackle and this has kept him focused. 

– Stephen McGee shows a strong arm.  He gunned an a completion to Jesse Holley into a very small window in front of Orlando Scandrick up the left sideline.  He looks far more decisive but still has plays where his timing seems slow.  I’d like to see him get better protection and hope he gets it in the preseason games.

– Victor Butler and Brandon Williams — Have not seen much of Williams.  Butler looked better in coverage in early drills and has been a menace against Marc Colombo in one-on-one drills  It’s hard to get a clear reading on their play, however.

– Mike Hamlin — have not seen many reps since the weekend.  He’s playing a lot at the free, and with the Cowboys playing press and with tackling out, I have not had a chance to get an extensive look at any of the FS.

– John Phillips — is looking better all arounds, as as blocker, and as a receiver.  His hands are very good, and he seems faster.  He’s cementing his place in the two TE sets with Martellus Bennett out. 

Notes:

– Tactical adjustments:  Jason Witten has been flexing into the backfield a lot lately and releasing on pass patterns from the fullback position.  The defense was so concerned with containing him after his fast start that both linebackers on his side covered him, turning John Phillips loose for big gains.  I hope putting Witten in the backfield has a similar effect in real games. 

– Jason Garrett continues to drill screens with his offense.  I think this group may return to a level of screen competency not seen since the Landry days.  They work at least half a dozen into every practice, for every situation, and every player, receiver, back and tight end, has a play designed for him.  Some have several screens in their arsenals.

– Miles Austin spent another afternoon in the number 2 jersey.  His quarterbacks were still able to find him.  We’ve been quiet with Austin notes thus far, but don’t despair — he beat both Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins deep today.  No problems here.

– I think the bleeding may have stopped at backup RT.  I saw a third consecutive solid practice from Robert Brewster.  Does this mean he’s getting his pass protecting sea legs underneath him or is Brewster simply tuning in to the defenders’ moves, after facing them for eight practices?  We won’t really know until the pre-season games start. 

– The tuques make different players look funny.  When the girthy linemen wear the colored tops, they look like old women in shower caps.  Mike Jenkins, on the other hand, pulls his tuque low on his helmet, so it almost covers the top of his face-mask.  This makes him look a bit like Weird Harold from the old “Fat Albert” cartoons.  

Cowboys Camp Report 8: T

Cowboys Camp Report 7: Backups for Breakfast

The shirts and shorts were back for the Cowboys morning practice after two consecutive sessions with pads.  Missing were the veterans, who got the morning off.  The coaches worked with the youngsters and veteran backups, but not before a miffed Wade Phillips rallied his players mid-practice, dissatisfied with the early pace of 11-on-11 drills.

The hitting was non-existent, and with such a short lineup, I’ve giving you an appropriately abbreviated report.

Special teams opened the practice, as usual.  This morning the coaches began work on kickoff coverage and returns for the first time.  The staff divided the labor, with Joe DeCamillis working with the coverage men in the center of the formation, demonstrating how to head-fake opponents out of  the way while maintaining lane discipline. Later, DeCamillis flipped the drill around and had the players work on blocking incoming kickoff coverage guys.  

John Garrett and Reggie Herring worked with the return guys:  Garrett drilled the edge blockers behind in the initial line and Herring worked with the two-man wedges.  

The backups then spend the second half of practice working on play execution — at a high pace.  Initially, that pace was not quick enough for Wade Phillips’ satisfaction, and he huddled the players around him to urge some more urgency.  The pace did pick up afterwards, but there’s nothing conclusive to be gleaned from their work.  There was no blocking on the line of scrimmage and the plays were run at three quarters’ speed once the ball was snapped.  It’s hard to talk about coverage when the emphasis was on knowing one’s role.  The most I can say for the final drills is that I saw the 3rd and 4th string QBs toss a lot of dumpoffs to backs in the flats.

I’m looking for the veterans and full pads to return this afternoon.  Come back then for more thorough news.

Notes:

– Martellus Bennett remains within the injured ranks.  He watched from the side today in a white t-shirt.  

– Josh Brent is close to returning.  He wore a jersey and ran sprints in the end zone with the other rehabbing players.  

– Coffee Nerdness:  Peter King was in the front row of the Alamodome press box, making his annual pass through Cowboys Camp.  And yes, he was sipping from a Starbucks cup.  In the King tradition, I want to mention that this and all my camp articles are fueled by coffee roasted at The Fair Bean, my local haunt in Austin, Texas.  This mornings brew was Honduras, a medium roast prepared just last Thursday. 

Come to the light, Peter.  Indy roasters beat that over-done industrial stuff any day of the week.

CBSSports.com Presents Fantasy Football Projections (QBs)

 

Hey BTB,

Once a week leading up to the season I’ll be posting fantasy projections for different positions. CBSSports.com is SB Nation’s fantasy football partner and are sponsoring these posts. As a reminder, SB Nation has a deal with CBSSports.com offering their Fantasy Football Commisioner leagues at half-price. If you’re interested in purchasing a league for the price of $90, make sure you do it through this link so BTB gets the credit. You get lots of cool features with the league.

This week’s projection concern the QB position. According to the CBSSports.com projections, they see Tony Romo as the #6 QB with 28 TDs and 14 INTs. He comes in behind Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Schaub and Tom Brady.

Jamey Eisenberg had this to say about Romo in 2010:

Romo threw for a career-high 4,483 yards last year with 26 touchdowns and a career-low nine interceptions. And this year, he could be even better.

The Cowboys gave Romo a new weapon this offseason with rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant, a first-round draft choice. Bryant will join an impressive receiving corps that features Miles Austin, Jason Witten, Roy E. Williams and Patrick Crayton.

Romo also has solid receivers out of the backfield in Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice, and he plays in an offense that will remain explosive. We consider Romo a No. 1 Fantasy quarterback, and he could end up as a Top 5 player at his position.

The one downside to Romo is he has an inexperienced starter at left tackle after Flozell Adams was let go. Doug Free is the new left tackle if he can beat out Alex Barron, and he only has seven career starts. If Free can keep Romo from getting hit, Romo should shine — and that’s what we expect to happen.

So what do you think? Will Romo be a Top 5 QB this year?

Consider this an open thread to discuss Fantasy Football.

Dallas Cowboys & Turnovers: Wade Phillips Press Conference 7/27/10

In Tuesday’s press conference, Coach Wade Phillips addressed the issue of turnovers for the Dallas Cowboys and touched on some of the themes and issues that we have discussed here extensively.

Coach Phillips talked about what he views as turnovers, how a low points allowed figure trumps turnovers, about making turnovers a point of emphasis this year and about how having a lead should help you create more turnovers.

The full press conference can be found at DallasCowboys.com, but I thought it would be worth transcribing parts of what Coach Phillips said about turnovers, illustrating his points with a few choice stats and opening it up for discussion on this board.

(Disclaimer: This recap is a very close verbatim transcript of what Coach Phillips said, but isn’t vetted for total accuracy. I have occasionally shortened parts and have not written down every single word, but I did try to get across the intended meaning of what he said. Occasionally, what I’ve typed may lose the context of something Coach Phillips said and may appear counter-intuitive. If you have questions about something from the press conference, feel free to ask in the comments or watch the presser yourself.)

Question: Wade, with the pressure that you do get on the other quarterback, why doesn’t this defense get more turnovers?

Wade Phillips: I think it’ll change from year to year as for the number of turnovers. You have to look at how many points they gave up - that’s an important thing. You make them [opponents] punt more than anyone in the league. You stop them on fourth down; fourth downs don’t count as a turnover. Every fourth down stop is a turnover, but it doesn’t count in the turnover stats.

You know, our team had a lot of fourth downs last year and we stopped people, we got the ball back right there, it was just like you do with a turnover, but it doesn’t count. Same thing with punts. You make them punt, it does change some field position, but …

I expect them to do better this year as far as turnovers are concerned, but I still want them to give up the least points in the league and that would be the best thing that could happen for us.

You can agree or disagree with Wade’s view about what constitutes a turnover, but he is right in pointing out that the Cowboys ranked pretty well in most stats that have to do with a change of possession:

Cowboys “Change of possession stats”, 2009 regular season
	Interceptions	Opponent Punts	Field Goal %age allowed	3rd down conversions allowed	4th down conversions allowed	Forced Fumbles
Value	11	92	69.2%	35%	50%	24
NFL Rank	26	3rd	1st	5th	14th	15th

And with a defense that gave up the second fewest points in the league, Wade is right to point out that at the end of the day, it’s the points given up that count.

Question: The way you were playing defensively at the end of last year, are you convinced that that turnover number will go up?

Wade Phillips: If you can have two shutouts, whether they have turnovers in those games or not, those kind of games don’t happen very often. In fact, it’s never happened with the Dallas Cowboys before. If you can play at that level, the stats don’t mean anything - except the final score.

Again, hard to argue the logic of that. But you’re not going to shut out your opponents every game. And although the Cowboys recorded an interception in each of the last four games of the regular season against the Chargers, Saints, Redskins and Eagles, that would put them on a pace for ‘only’ 16 interceptions next year. That’s about half the number of interceptions the Packers had this year (30) and would have ranked the Cowboys 15th in the league.

Question: When you guys evaluate and look at the defense, is there a formula, is there a pill you’re looking for to try and help force those turnovers?

Wade Phillips: The first year here we had 23 interceptions or whatever it was [OCC: it was 19]. We had a lot of stats that way. Some of the turnovers happen when you’re ahead. We were ahead in a lot of games but didn’t get some turnovers at the end.

I just want them to play well and play their best. I think those things will happen. We’re emphasizing them more and more though. I think we have some people with experience. Sensabaugh had a broken hand and couldn’t catch the ball at all last year, so I expect him to have some more as far as interceptions and fumble recoveries and those kind of things. We do knock the ball out quite a bit and we’re going to try to continue doing that.

Okay, that’s an interesting thought about getting more interceptions when you’re ahead. Brian Burke at advancednflstats.com had a story about this a little over two years ago and concluded:

“Interceptions are very random, and they are ‘thrown’ by an offense much more than they are ‘taken’ by a defense.”

If this is true, then we should be seeing an increase in the interception rate (interceptions/pass attempt) when your lead increases, as the other team starts getting more desperate and starts taking riskier throws. In the table below I’ve broken down the entire 2009 season by interception rate and score differential at the time of the interception.

	BEHIND by				Game tied	AHEAD by
INT rate	>22 pts	21-15 pts	14-8 pts	7-1 pts	0 pts	1-7 pts	8-14 pts	15-21 pts	>22 pts
NFL Avg.	1.6%	1.7%	2.2%	2.7%	2.8%	3.0%	3.8%	4.5%	4.6%
Cowboys	- -	0.0%	0.0%	3.6%	2.8%	1.4%	1.1%	1.1%	0.0%

I’ll expand on this in a future post (I still need to clean up some of the numbers), but for now, it looks like Dallas is not getting the interceptions when they are literally ‘there for the picking’: The NFL average interception rate when ahead by eight or more points is 4.2%. Dallas is at 1.0%. In fact, the Cowboys have only two picks against 200 pass attempts they’ve defended when they were leading by eight or more points. This is the magic pill - get your INTs prescription filled when you’re in the lead.

But it is also a choice. Are you going to be aggressive on defense when you’re in the lead, and try to force those turnovers, or are you going to make sure you keep the play in front of you at all times, don’t give up the big play, and make the opponent slowly dink and dunk their way up the field?

Guaranteed Controversy Alert Dallas plays Cincinnati in eleven days. How many times do you…

Guaranteed Controversy Alert

Dallas plays Cincinnati in eleven days.

How many times do you predict that you’ll see Dez Bryant, new Bengal Terrell Owens and the word “controversy” in the same headlines in the days leading up to the game and in the broadcast story lines?

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Guaranteed Controversy Alert Dallas plays Cincinnati in eleven days. How many times do you…

Guaranteed Controversy Alert

Dallas plays Cincinnati in eleven days.

How many times do you predict that you’ll see Dez Bryant, new Bengal Terrell Owens and the word “controversy” in the same headlines in the days leading up to the game and in the broadcast story lines?

Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Cowboys Camp Report 6: Fuzzy Afternoon

The shoulder pads and shorts were worn this afternoon, as the Cowboys crept more into their punt coverage work. They went back to working more on fundamentals and on tightening up the passing game.  Dallas worked more on passing game matchups, drilling a lot of 6-on-7, where Tony Romo, Jon Kitna, and Stephen McGee worked the skill position guys against the three back seven units.  The Cowboys session finished with the starting offense and the starting defense working on mid-field passing drills.  

This morning, most of these plays tested the offense in 3rd down situations.  This afternoon, the emphasis switched to 1st down plays, runs and passes.  Little changed from this morning.  Most of the players carried over their performances; the good players doing well, the struggling players continuing to struggle.   Some key second year players continued to impress, and give the team some depth and flexibility at key roles (more on them later).

 As I’ve reported before, Joe DeCamillis started his coverage work on spacing, and placement.  Next, his guys worked on their drops.  Yesterday, they worked on their releases and keeping lane discipline on their downfield runs.

Today, DeCamillis began where yesterday’s drills left off.  His coverage guys worked on the end of the play.  He had a gunner race past the return man and the following three or four men worked on surrounding and taking down the returner.  

Next, DeCamillis put the whole package together.  For the first time, he had his coverage team practice the entire coverage play.  The punt team worked on punt return teams, with two blockers on each edge gunner.  The coverage guys translated their drills well to live play, pinning the returners to the sideline and holding the them to short gains.  As usual, the caveats apply.  Tackling was not allowed, so it’s hard to get a full reading on how they might tackle.  We’ll know when the real games start.  

The David Buehler followers will be happy to know that we have some news to report.  DeCamillis finished his portion of the practice with a field goal drill.  To my eyes, Buehler was 3 of 4 on his attempts, with the miss hitting the right upright.  His last attempt was good from 48, with yards to spare.  

Dallas then split up for positional work before reuniting the offense for a lot of six-against-air, where the receivers worked on plays for the middle of the field.  All of them put maximum pressure on the secondary, sending all five potential targets out on routes.  

At the same time, the base and nickel back sevens worked more on pattern recognition and coverage responsibility.  

When the two units merged for 6-on-7 drills, backup tight end John Phillips drew the biggest “oohs” from the crowd for two circus catches. The first and most impressive was a one-handed snag up the left sideline against tight Keith Brooking coverage.  Hurry back, Martellus.  Your absence has opened the door for Phillips to impress and he’s run through it at full speed.  

On the opposite half, the line started it’s one-on-one pass blocking drills.  Victor Butler had one of his better stretches of the camp, as he challenged Marc Colombo with two hard outside rushes;  Colombo had to scramble to contain them.  

The sobering story from this initial drill was the 2nd units continued struggles.  Pat McQuistan was pushed deep into the pocket on his reps, a disappointing result for a player who is allegedly one of the strongest on the roster.  Marcus Spears twice schooled Travis Bright, swimming past the backup C while rushing from a DT spot.   Junior Siavii jacked the overmatched Phil Costa with a bull rush. ( I would say more but I don’t want to induce too many Cory Proctor flashbacks with you readers tonight.)  

The one exception was Robert Brewster who had a second settled practice.  He again found his bearings on the right side, and can now stalemate all the backups, in drills and in the 11-on-11 scrimmages.  He earned a few more reps on the left side in this drill, proving his work this morning wasn’t just a fluke,to cover for Alex Barron.  I know the coaches don’t want to overwhelm Brewster, but I wonder if he might get some reps inside if he can maintain today’s level at tackle.  This team desperately needs better guard play behind the starters. 

Midway through the drill Hudson Houck and Paul Pasqualoni upped the rush ante, sending two man twists and stunts at different areas of the line.  Sometimes a tackle and end would rush.  On others, two tackles would challenge a guard and the center and on down the line.  The blockers actually performed better in tandem then they did individually.  

The final 11-on-11 was sloppy.  The first unit lacked its previous zip, and Romo had a couple of plays which would have been coverage sacks.  This was a step backwards from the sharpness this unit showed this morning and yesterday afternoon.  Jason Garrett started calling more bootlegs and rollouts for his third unit, hoping to buy some time for Stephen McGee, who is an unknown because his tackles have been turnstiles.  The rollouts did get McGee some time, but he had few open targets in his limited throwing windows and he threw the ball away at least three times.

I wonder if he’ll take some of Jon Kitna’s snaps with the 2nd offense, so the coaches can see him with decent protection.  Will Barker and Sam Young were again overwhelmed;  on one down against the 1st offense, Demarcus Ware was on McGee just an instant after he reached his drop point.  

Two more practices tomorrow…

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