Henson watching and waiting at Cowboys camp
STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
OXNARD, Calif. - Drew Henson has done a lot of standing and watching during team drills at the Dallas Cowboys training camp, and not only when Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo are taking snaps.
Even when the third-team offense is on the field, the player once considered the team's quarterback of the future is rarely out there. Free agent rookie Matt Baker was under center instead of Henson again Saturday.
"Every camp has been a little bit different since I've been here. You just have to go with the flow," Henson said. "But I'm a better player than I was my first two years, and I'm trying to continue to improve and get ready to play when I get the chance."
It looks like that chance to play will be at least another week away for Henson, who left professional baseball and the New York Yankees two years ago to join the Cowboys.
Bledsoe is expected to start and play the whole first half Monday night in the preseason game against New Orleans. Romo - the entrenched No. 2 quarterback who took every snap in the preseason opener - is the only other quarterback Bill Parcells has indicated he will use.
In Henson's first Dallas camp two years ago, he was shaking off the rust after being out of football since starting for Michigan as a junior in the 2001 Rose Bowl. Last year, he was competing with Romo for the No. 2 job, and now he's rarely getting snaps with the third team.
Henson's only start came Thanksgiving Day 2004 for an injured Vinny Testaverde, who then replaced Henson at halftime. Henson was the Cowboys third quarterback all last season.
Parcells called Henson's performance during camp "average" and was less than committal about a timeline for the quarterback.
"As long as I have to, I guess," Parcells said. "There's no deadline here."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still considers Henson "an excellent prospect," but admits he thought the quarterback would be further along in his development.
"It's accurate to say that I had higher expectations," Jones said. "It wouldn't have surprised me to see him vying for a starting job in the NFL right now."
Henson completed 109 of 203 passes for 1,321 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions last spring in NFL Europe.
"I was getting games in, getting to play football again," Henson said. "I left a (baseball) career at 24, and I left a lot of money on the table because I love this game. I love playing quarterback and I like to compete."
And he still wants to do that for the Cowboys.
---
ELLIS EFFORT: Greg Ellis wasn't happy when he got to training camp and knew he had to move from defensive end to outside linebacker. Three weeks later, he's a little more comfortable.
"Obviously, I know a lot more now than I did, but I still have a long way to go," Ellis said. "It's a challenge, it really is, just switching and doing something you're really not familiar with."
Ellis knows the plays, but is still adjusting to coverage audibles during the game. A defensive end since being a first-round pick by the Cowboys in 1998, he is now a linebacker playing primarily in passing situations.
Parcells said Ellis is really doing some of the same things he did as an end.
"Really the flow of the game as it comes to him is pretty much what he's used to," Parcells said. "Obviously, the pass coverage is somewhat different, but if he doesn't play well at that spot, I'm going to be surprised. ... I coached that position for 20 years, so I think I know when a person is capable of playing it and I definitely think he's capable of it."
---
SO LONG, OXNARD: With a light walkthrough Sunday, the Cowboys wrap up their third training camp in Oxnard, Calif. And they're not scheduled to return.
The Cowboys are taking their training camp back to San Antonio and the Alamodome next summer. That is where the Cowboys trained for two years before moving to the California site formerly used by the Raiders, where the temperatures are generally in the upper 70s.
"The best thing about Oxnard, without question, is your ability to work your team very hard without suffering an inordinate number of physical ailments that a lot of other teams in the league are suffering because of dehydration," Parcells said. "It's really a wonderful place to try to get your team ready because you can't work them hard enough. The environment for practice is conducive to learning rather than surviving."
After playing their preseason game Monday night against the Saints in Shreveport, La., the Cowboys return to work at their Valley Ranch facility. The high temperature back home has been upward of 105 degrees, and Parcells is already planning to utilize the team's indoor practice field.
Part of the reason for the departure from Oxnard is that the land around the practice fields, which has been used for parking and Cowboys merchandise trailers, is privately owned and a housing development is planned there.
---
FLOZELL PROGRESS: Two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Flozell Adams is making progress in his recovery from knee surgery that forced him to miss the last 10 games last season.
"Flozell is practicing harder than he's practiced in some time. I've been on him a little bit too, but he's doing pretty good now," Parcells said. "I've never had a guy that size of a man coming off this kind of an injury. When you think about a man who weighs twice as much as the man who is rehabbing him, there can be some problems you don't get in a normal person."
The 6-foot-7, 340-pound Adams worked with the third-team offense during a couple of practice sessions, but Parcells said that was just to allow the tackle to take a little break.
---_
COACH'S COORDIOR: When the Cowboys break from their training camp Sunday, it will be only the second time in 3 1/2 weeks that coach Bill Parcells has been off the hotel property that also includes the practice fields.
"It's kind of like being in a time warp. I'm in a 200-yard corridor. I haven't been off the campus," Parcells said. "I have a car out there, I don't even know which one it is."
The only time Parcells has left since camp started was last weekend for the team's trip to the preseason opener at Seattle.
Associated Press
OXNARD, Calif. - Drew Henson has done a lot of standing and watching during team drills at the Dallas Cowboys training camp, and not only when Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo are taking snaps.
Even when the third-team offense is on the field, the player once considered the team's quarterback of the future is rarely out there. Free agent rookie Matt Baker was under center instead of Henson again Saturday.
"Every camp has been a little bit different since I've been here. You just have to go with the flow," Henson said. "But I'm a better player than I was my first two years, and I'm trying to continue to improve and get ready to play when I get the chance."
It looks like that chance to play will be at least another week away for Henson, who left professional baseball and the New York Yankees two years ago to join the Cowboys.
Bledsoe is expected to start and play the whole first half Monday night in the preseason game against New Orleans. Romo - the entrenched No. 2 quarterback who took every snap in the preseason opener - is the only other quarterback Bill Parcells has indicated he will use.
In Henson's first Dallas camp two years ago, he was shaking off the rust after being out of football since starting for Michigan as a junior in the 2001 Rose Bowl. Last year, he was competing with Romo for the No. 2 job, and now he's rarely getting snaps with the third team.
Henson's only start came Thanksgiving Day 2004 for an injured Vinny Testaverde, who then replaced Henson at halftime. Henson was the Cowboys third quarterback all last season.
Parcells called Henson's performance during camp "average" and was less than committal about a timeline for the quarterback.
"As long as I have to, I guess," Parcells said. "There's no deadline here."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones still considers Henson "an excellent prospect," but admits he thought the quarterback would be further along in his development.
"It's accurate to say that I had higher expectations," Jones said. "It wouldn't have surprised me to see him vying for a starting job in the NFL right now."
Henson completed 109 of 203 passes for 1,321 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions last spring in NFL Europe.
"I was getting games in, getting to play football again," Henson said. "I left a (baseball) career at 24, and I left a lot of money on the table because I love this game. I love playing quarterback and I like to compete."
And he still wants to do that for the Cowboys.
---
ELLIS EFFORT: Greg Ellis wasn't happy when he got to training camp and knew he had to move from defensive end to outside linebacker. Three weeks later, he's a little more comfortable.
"Obviously, I know a lot more now than I did, but I still have a long way to go," Ellis said. "It's a challenge, it really is, just switching and doing something you're really not familiar with."
Ellis knows the plays, but is still adjusting to coverage audibles during the game. A defensive end since being a first-round pick by the Cowboys in 1998, he is now a linebacker playing primarily in passing situations.
Parcells said Ellis is really doing some of the same things he did as an end.
"Really the flow of the game as it comes to him is pretty much what he's used to," Parcells said. "Obviously, the pass coverage is somewhat different, but if he doesn't play well at that spot, I'm going to be surprised. ... I coached that position for 20 years, so I think I know when a person is capable of playing it and I definitely think he's capable of it."
---
SO LONG, OXNARD: With a light walkthrough Sunday, the Cowboys wrap up their third training camp in Oxnard, Calif. And they're not scheduled to return.
The Cowboys are taking their training camp back to San Antonio and the Alamodome next summer. That is where the Cowboys trained for two years before moving to the California site formerly used by the Raiders, where the temperatures are generally in the upper 70s.
"The best thing about Oxnard, without question, is your ability to work your team very hard without suffering an inordinate number of physical ailments that a lot of other teams in the league are suffering because of dehydration," Parcells said. "It's really a wonderful place to try to get your team ready because you can't work them hard enough. The environment for practice is conducive to learning rather than surviving."
After playing their preseason game Monday night against the Saints in Shreveport, La., the Cowboys return to work at their Valley Ranch facility. The high temperature back home has been upward of 105 degrees, and Parcells is already planning to utilize the team's indoor practice field.
Part of the reason for the departure from Oxnard is that the land around the practice fields, which has been used for parking and Cowboys merchandise trailers, is privately owned and a housing development is planned there.
---
FLOZELL PROGRESS: Two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Flozell Adams is making progress in his recovery from knee surgery that forced him to miss the last 10 games last season.
"Flozell is practicing harder than he's practiced in some time. I've been on him a little bit too, but he's doing pretty good now," Parcells said. "I've never had a guy that size of a man coming off this kind of an injury. When you think about a man who weighs twice as much as the man who is rehabbing him, there can be some problems you don't get in a normal person."
The 6-foot-7, 340-pound Adams worked with the third-team offense during a couple of practice sessions, but Parcells said that was just to allow the tackle to take a little break.
---_
COACH'S COORDIOR: When the Cowboys break from their training camp Sunday, it will be only the second time in 3 1/2 weeks that coach Bill Parcells has been off the hotel property that also includes the practice fields.
"It's kind of like being in a time warp. I'm in a 200-yard corridor. I haven't been off the campus," Parcells said. "I have a car out there, I don't even know which one it is."
The only time Parcells has left since camp started was last weekend for the team's trip to the preseason opener at Seattle.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:36 PM
<< Home