Cowboys’ Rookie Report: Aquaman Making a Splash
September 27, 2008
No Cowboys rookie got more preseason ink than 2nd round pick Martellus Bennett. One day, he was the team comedian, wearing a Superhero persona through pre-practice interviews, claiming he was Aquaman and could talk to sea creatures. He took even took credit for the earthquake that shook up Southern California, saying he caused a disturbance when he landed on earth.
A couple of days later, he was Pariah Man, the petulant exposed by Hard Knocks, the man child who didn’t respect his position coach.
Here’s the skinny after three games, Bennett is looking more and more like the guy The War Room rated the top tight end in the draft. The Cowboys did too and their optimism and patience may pay off big time.
Bennett only has two catches, but they’ve each gone for 57 yards. His open field speed is obvious.
More important, for Bennett and for the Cowboys, his blocking, the biggest question mark of his game, has improved enough to get him on the field regularly. I wrote yesterday about Dallas’ extensive use of three tight end packages. Part of this was by necessity, with Deon Anderson out. Part of it is because the team has confidence in Bennett.
Bennett got 30 snaps against Green Bay. On most of them he was responsible for blocking Packers defensive ends. He did this very well. On four plays, he put Aaron Kampman on his back.
Bennett was used in the backfield, on move or “wham” traps. Bennett has the muscle to move linemen and linebackers. These are skills Anthony Fasano didn’t display in Dallas. Learning curves are relative, but the supposedly dumb Aggie is looking like a great 2nd round value for Dallas.
If John Garrett can keep him focused, Bennett is going to begin making plays as a receiver. He’s already making a splash as a blocker, and that’s the hard — and essential — part of being a tight end in Dallas’ scheme.
He may end up as a football Superhero after all.
Note: Redskins preview later tonight.
Understudy Sunday: Cowboys Camp Report, August 3rd
August 3, 2008
The team rested veterans Zach Thomas, Terrell Owens and Jason Witten for today’s practice, giving youngsters Kevin Burnett, Sam Hurd and Martellus Bennett an opportunity to make plays into the 11-on-11 drills. They all responded, with Burnett showing saavy at his inside linebacker spot. Hurd and Bennett got open in the full scrimmages and caught every pass thrown their way save one.
For Hurd, it was a strong bounce back from Friday’s one-on-ones, where he had trouble beating hard press coverage.
Bennett showed that he could fulfill John Garrett’s claim that he would be ready for the regular season. He got open short and deep, getting great separation and displaying great acceleration upfield when the secures the ball. It seems he can be as good as he wants to be. Barring injury, the question is the length of his learning curve.
Pre-scrimmage
– Anything to get better: Bobby Carpenter spent time with the backup wide receivers catching passes from the ball machine.
– In the positional drills, Jay Ratliff was back with the nose tackles and Marcus Spears was working again with the defensive ends.
Early Scrimmage Notes:
Tony Romo was red hot when he worked the first team offense, going six-for-six in his initial sequence despite some heavy pressure on some plays. Don’t take this as a new development. Romo has made quick decisions all throughout camp and seems to be getting faster in his decision making. The defense can pressure him, but cannot get sacks.
The best play of the series came when Romo threw a stop fade up the left sideline to Sam Hurd, who shoved both heels just in bounds and made a slow-motion fall while snatching Romo’s pass. Adam Jones was helpless to stop it.
Brad Johnson took over and had a mixed set of plays. He faced more pressure, as his protection was not as solid as Romo’s, and he had a slant dropped by Miles Austin.
Tashard Choice stood out on one play where he stepped up to blunt a Justin Rogers’ blitz, giving Johnson time to get his pass away.
Romo returned and made the type of throw you expect from a multi-year vet. Romo floated left in the pocket, away from right –side pressure and spotted Miles Austin running a go route against Evan Oglesby up the left side. Romo threw the ball wide and short; Austin spotted the ball and stepped into the shallow corner of the end zone to make the touchdown catch. Austin and Romo showed great intuition on the improvised throw.
The team then broke for a kickoff coverage drill, with emphasis on the breaking up the wedge and herding the returner into a center-of-the-field scrum.
The team returned to 11-on-11s, practicing red zone plays. The offense started with the ball at the nine and moved the ball regularly, as Romo remained hot. He completed three of four in the drill, including one to Bennett that would have gone for a score were the action live.
Johnson worked with the second unit and was also successful, running a TD draw to Tashard Choice, finding Bennett on a short route towards the left sideline. On the next play, Johnson looked off the safeties and hit Patrick Crayton beneath the post for a score.
After another special-teams drill , the WRs, RBs, TEs and QBs went 7-on-7 against the linebackers and D-backs while the offensive and defensive lines went 1-on-1 in a pass rushing drill. Some motifs from that drill:
– Erik Walden keeps getting inside pressure by starting upfield and then exploding inside. He got Doug Free this time.
– Flozell Adams remains the rock, stopping Demarcus Ware the three times they faced off.
– Andre Gurode blunted very inside rusher he faced. He’s also ready to go.
– Leonard Davis is solid in his pass protecting, though he again was bent backwards by a stiff two-handed Jay Ratliff punchout.
– Marc Colombo grabbed a jersey on one play but also looked steady on his edge.
The team ended the day with an 11-on-11 drill that worked on plays in the mid-field area. Dallas ran several packages that lined up Martellus Bennett wide, though the ball usually went elsewhere. Bennett attracted a linebacker in coverage each time. He’s got the speed to beat linebackers.
Hurd again caught a couple of passes, both against Oglesby, who had a bad day at the office after several consecutive good ones.
The “oooooooh” play came when Dallas ran a flea-flicker, with Marion Barber taking a handoff and tossing back to Romo. Adam Jones bit on the fake and Patrick Crayton ran a deep out behind him for a huge gain.
Notes:
Your throat-tightening moment of the day came in the final drill when Gurode and Jay Ratliff got tangled up on a pass play. Both lay face down on the ground for a while, neither moving. Then, Ratliff got up and Gurode slowly got up. Ratliff walked without distress to the defensive group on the far sideline. Gurode flexed his knee a few times and then went on with the drill. He didn’t miss a single play.
T.O. Beats Everybody: Dallas Cowboys Camp Report: July 27th
July 27, 2008
Your line for the day: T.O. beats everybody.
Repeat after me: Terrell Owens beats everybody.
Owens put on a scintillating show for HBO and the crowd, schooling every defensive back who tried to cover him. Adam Jones was on the down end of the day’s signature play; in a one-on-one drill, Owens rotated into a matchup with Jones. Richard Bartel was under center but with the desired matchup up for the first time today, Tony Romo was waved into the spot. Jones locked on to Owens for five yards but T.O. exploded away when he added the second half to the out-an-up. He was five yards in the clear when he gathered in Romo’s deep pass.
It’s always a question when a receiver is running free whether the receiver is really that good or the secondary is suspect. I remember watching Terry Glenn do the same thing to Terence Newman and Anthony Henry back in ’05 and it was the set up to a big season.
The corners are good. They knock down bad passes and they take some good ones away too. Owens is simply playing at a different level at the moment.
Say it with me…
The day began with the setup for kickoff return and coverage units. On the far field Bruce Read set up his first and second units, which lined up as follows:
First unit:
- First line: Pat Watkins, Bobby Carpenter, Justin Rogers, Martellus Bennett, Kevin Burnett
- Wedge: Tony Curtis, Cory Proctor, Pat McQuistan, Anthony Spencer
- Returners: Miles Austin, Sam Hurd
Second Unit:
- First line: Tashard Choice, Darrell Robertson, Mark Bradford, Erik Walden, Dowayne Davis
- Wedge: Julius Crosslin, Stephen Bowen, Jason Hatcher, Ronnie Cruz
- Returners: Orlando Scandrick, Mike Jenkins
You probably wondering where Adam Jones, Felix Jones and Isaiah Stanback were?
Adam was on the short field, where a large group of returners was taking turns fielding punts, including Patrick Crayton, Terence Newman, Anthony Henry, Danny Amendola and Quincy Butler.
When the team broke into units the receivers worked on catching passes at their highest point on fade routes and making one-handed catches.
The quarterbacks and running backs started with the most basic of skills, perfecting the spacing on a handoff. Across the short field, Hudson Houck and his guys worked on combination blocking in the middle and on the edge of the line. Houck worked with the interior linemen and had coaching fellow Erik Williams working with the offensive tackles.
On the back field, Todd Grantham and his guys worked on proper footwork on stunts and on proper hand usage on rushes.
Across the defensive field Dave Campo ran the secondary through defending stack or “bunch” formations, stressing communication, switching and proper spacing when receivers criss-crossed.
The offense and defense then worked together, with the receivers going one-on-one against the corners and the offense going 9-on-9 against the defense. Following both produced a mild headache but here’s what I gleaned:
Adam Jones can blanket receivers. He nevertheless had a frustrating session as Sam Hurd, Patrick Crayton and T.O. caught passes in front of and behind him.
That’s because Crayton and Hurd are running very precise routes. Hurd has been very impressive the last couple of days at getting separation. He told me yesterday he’s gunning for a starting spot and he’ll definitely get more playing time if he keeps playing this way.
Same as it ever was with Anthony Henry. Guys seem ready to blow past him and eat up his cushion with ease, but he stays with his man up the field and makes up ground when the ball is in the air. He recovered and stole the ball from Hurd on a deep route early in the drill. Guys can get away from him on deep ins, but receivers have always been able to do this.
Isaiah Stanback can beat jams and get up the field but the two deep throws I saw in his direction were thrown out of bounds. Give him an incomplete for the day.
Meanwhile, the offensive line got the better of the defense on most of the running plays. Felix Jones and Tashard Choice made impressive gains in the session going inside and outside. Marc Colombo has showed some good drive on plays to the right, while the interior trio of Kosier, Gurode and Davis created lots of lanes for the backs.
Jones’ speed is as good as advertised, but I think the fans will be pleasantly surprised by Choice’s explosiveness. He’s decisive and is quick through the hole.
On the defensive side, Anthony Spencer stopped everything to his side. He started to get reps more late in the season for his run stopping ability and he looks like he’s still improving.
In the next session the team went back to kickoff returns, with John Garrett and Bruce Read splitting the duties. Garrett worked with the up men, drilling them on getting the proper drops back towards the wedge and then turning, finding their targets, engaging and maintaining blocks to the whistle.
Read meanwhile worked with the wedge players. After a few minutes both halves of the unit worked together. Here, Stanback and both Jones took turns as returners: one return pair consisted of Miles Austin and Felix Jones and a second had Adam Jones and Sam Hurd. It appears that Read may have an abundance of return men this year. Austin was effective last year after replacing Tyson Thompson and Dallas now has three other returners who may be as good or better.
The team again split up with the tight ends and receivers going 7-on-7 on one half of the field while the offensive and defensive linemen staged their 1-on-1 on the other half.
I spent most of my time watching the linemen but caught these tasty crumbs:
First, Dallas unveiled its two tailback set, with Felix Jones and Marion Barber lining up in the backfield together. Felix motioned into the flanker spot and ran a go route. He got wide open and Tony Romo found him.
Next, Martellus Bennett drew his first cheers of the camp, catching a deep seam route.
The lineman drill showed the relative skills of veterans and the rookies, as the kids could beat other kids but had a lot more trouble dealing with the vets.
Rookie Erik Walden showed an impressive burst on an inside counter move that left Doug Free grasping for air. He found no such room on his next rotation when he went after Flozell Adams, who was his steady self, keeping everybody, including Demarcus Ware, away from his quarterback.
Jay Ratliff is getting a lot of reps at both end and nose tackle. He zipped past Leonard Davis on one play but had trouble with Colombo when he tried going wide. Colombo handled all comers his way.
Tank Johnson shows some explosiveness, in the drills and in the 1-on-1s. He got the better of Andre Gurode on one play but was stacked up by Kyle Kosier on another. Kosier was another mister steady.
It’s one step back and one step up for James Marten, who is trying to make it as a guard. He was pushed deep into the pocket on one rotation but fought back on his next chances.
The practice ended with a full 11-on-11 drill, that I’ll term a stalemate. The offense made some plays while the defense stopped others. Newman blanketed Crayton out of the slot and picked off a pass. Felix Jones took a stretch play for a long gain up the left side, showing impressive speed around the corner.
A likely immaterial drill note:
Backup QB Brad Johnson is doing his best to give UFA Mike Jefferson a chance to make the squad. Johnson threw almost all of his downfield passes Jefferson’s way. The rookie make a couple of sliding catches but also dropped a few. He’s still a long shot from where I’m sitting.
Building Blocks — Camp Report, Morning, July 26th
July 26, 2008
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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