DMN Blog: Live from Oxnard III: First-round picks are here
by Tim MacMahon
Weather: 72 degrees and sunny.
Rookie RB Felix Jones will make his official practice debut this afternoon. Fellow first-rounder CB Mike Jenkins probably won't arrive in time for this session.
Helmets, shoulder pads and shorts this afternoon, so very limited contact. Follow the jump and refresh away ...
5:19 -- Wade Phillips' press conference just finished. Nothing too exciting. ... He mentioned that it was nice to see LB Zach Thomas, whose final season in Miami was cut short by concussions, butt heads with guys like OG Leonard "Bigg" Davis and come away OK. ... Wade danced around a question about whether Bobby Carpenter could get meaningful playing time at LB. Wade mentioned that Carpenter has talent and worked hard. He said the coaches would try to find ways to get him on the field more, but the fact is that Carpenter is third-string behind Thomas and Kevin Burnett at the weakside ILB spot. ... Wade raved about Adam Jones' competitiveness, noting that he jumped the line to go against T.O. every time in 1-on-1s. More on that matchup later. ... Phillips also praised FS Ken Hamlin, though he joked he was reluctant to do so after Hamlin skipped OTAs and minicamp as part of contract negotiations.
5:28 -- This probably falls under the category of things you shouldn't read much into, but Felix Jones was not with the group fielding kickoffs. Neither was Miles Austin, who handled the job most of last season. Danny Amendola joined pretty much every cornerback back there. ... Pretty sure one of the Jones boys will get that gig this season.
5:33 -- Stretching has started. Another crowd of at least a few thousand is pretty rowdy. Perhaps folks enjoyed a few of the official team brewskis between practices.
5:36 -- LB Tearrius George's knee must not have been hurt too badly this morning. He's back out there. A roster longshot like him can't afford to miss any practices.
5:39 -- Stretching over. Positional drills about to begin. We're still several minutes away from significant action, but don't let that minor detail stop you from refreshing.
5:45 -- Felix Jones is working as the second-team tailback, but Wade Phillips talked about the possibility of using him some as a receiver. The Cowboys worked on a few packages during the spring that put Jones and Marion Barber on the field together.
5:48 -- T.O. has switched it up and gone with the dark blue spandex this afternoon. ... Still doing position drills. ... Big Danny Amendola fan in the crowd, apparently.
5:52 -- First drop I've seen by T.O. during this camp. Had a ball clank off his hands after running a skinny post vs. air. A couple groans in the crowd.
5:57 -- Answers to a couple questions: I'd assume the official beer of the Dallas Cowboys is being sold on premises, since there's about a 25-foot tall Miller Lite inflatable can by one of the fields. ... Anthony Spencer, who had a sack in the morning practice, will be on the field more this season. He'll spell Greg Ellis more than last year. The Cowboys used a 3-3 look their three pass-rushing OLBs on the field together in some passing situations last season. We'll see more of that. ... Still doing position drills.
6:00 -- Looks like competitive stuff is about to start. I'll be back in a bit. Gotta head to the field so I can actually see.
6:11 -- We've got OL/DL 1-on-1s and 7-on-7. ... I focused more on the big boys, but I did see Jason Witten make a catch that's the Play of the Day frontrunner. Witten ran a seam route and was well covered by Bradie James. Romo threw it over his wrong shoulder, and Witten made a phenomenal adjustment to catch the ball on the run. ... LT Flozell Adams absolutely mauled rookie DE Darrell Robertson, knocking the undrafted kid to the ground. ... NT Jay Ratliff blew by Pro Bowl C Andre Gurode. DE Chris Canty did the same to OG Kyle Kosier. ... Jason Hatcher made such a powerful, quick swim move that Pro Bowl G Leonard "Bigg" Davis stumbled to the turf. ... LT Doug Free has vastly improved. He only gets beat most of the time by DeMarcus Ware now. It was every snap last summer. ... Martellus Bennett ain't in the Big 12 anymore. He got bull-rushed by Greg Ellis and beat badly on an inside move by Ware. ... Mike Jenkins got here a few minutes ago but has yet to get in any drills. ... FG work about to start.
6:25 -- Only saw one miss by Nick Folk, and that one clanked off the goal post. ... Now working on punt coverage. Training camp leg Jay Ottovegio is handling the punting, so Mat McBriar can save his leg. ... Adam Jones, Terence Newman and Patrick Crayton are back there catching punts. That's not something Felix Jones does well, according to his college position coach.
6:28 -- Ex-Cowboy RB Duane Thomas, a Dallas Lincoln High product famous for not talking to the media during his playing days, is here. He chatted with a bunch of reporters this afternoon. Archer was in that group, so he might have something from Thomas a little later or in tomorrow's paper.
6:32 -- Actually, Nick Folk went 5-for-7, per Calvin "Lucky" Watkins. He missed two of his first three. Believe the kicks were in the 40-yard range.
6:35 -- 11-on-11 about to start. Off to the field I go. Be back in a bit.
7:14 -- Sorry for the delay, folks. Practice ended, and I had to stick around for interviews. Here are some highlights from the late 11-on-11 work: T.O. fell down on a deep ball, but Ken Hamlin dropped what should have been an easy pick. ... Felix Jones and Marion Barber split reps with the first team. Jones got knocked to the ground picking up OLB Darrell Robertson, but the block gave Tony Romo enough time to deliver a pass across the middle to TE Martellus Bennett. ... Romo had a beautiful strike to TE Jason Witten on a seam route, putting the ball in a tiny window over Witten's shoulder. Justin Rogers, who has moved to ILB, had good coverage on the play but never turned his head to find the ball. ... NT Jay Ratliff tore up the 2's, getting a tackle for loss on one play and sack the next. NT Tank Johnson was consistently disruptive against backup C Cory Procter, too. ... Didn't see first-round CB Mike Jenkins get any reps after arriving in the middle of practice. Alan Ball played right CB with the first-team dime package. ... DeMarcus Ware, the dude Wade Phillips was pumping up as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, was all over the backfield. Nothing new there. ... WR Isaiah Stanback showed impressive acceleration when he turned the corner on a reverse. ... The play that probably got the biggest reaction from the crowd was an incomplete pass. Adam Jones was step for step with T.O., preventing him from making a play from the ball. I would have thrown a flag for pass interference.
Weather: 72 degrees and sunny.
Rookie RB Felix Jones will make his official practice debut this afternoon. Fellow first-rounder CB Mike Jenkins probably won't arrive in time for this session.
Helmets, shoulder pads and shorts this afternoon, so very limited contact. Follow the jump and refresh away ...
5:19 -- Wade Phillips' press conference just finished. Nothing too exciting. ... He mentioned that it was nice to see LB Zach Thomas, whose final season in Miami was cut short by concussions, butt heads with guys like OG Leonard "Bigg" Davis and come away OK. ... Wade danced around a question about whether Bobby Carpenter could get meaningful playing time at LB. Wade mentioned that Carpenter has talent and worked hard. He said the coaches would try to find ways to get him on the field more, but the fact is that Carpenter is third-string behind Thomas and Kevin Burnett at the weakside ILB spot. ... Wade raved about Adam Jones' competitiveness, noting that he jumped the line to go against T.O. every time in 1-on-1s. More on that matchup later. ... Phillips also praised FS Ken Hamlin, though he joked he was reluctant to do so after Hamlin skipped OTAs and minicamp as part of contract negotiations.
5:28 -- This probably falls under the category of things you shouldn't read much into, but Felix Jones was not with the group fielding kickoffs. Neither was Miles Austin, who handled the job most of last season. Danny Amendola joined pretty much every cornerback back there. ... Pretty sure one of the Jones boys will get that gig this season.
5:33 -- Stretching has started. Another crowd of at least a few thousand is pretty rowdy. Perhaps folks enjoyed a few of the official team brewskis between practices.
5:36 -- LB Tearrius George's knee must not have been hurt too badly this morning. He's back out there. A roster longshot like him can't afford to miss any practices.
5:39 -- Stretching over. Positional drills about to begin. We're still several minutes away from significant action, but don't let that minor detail stop you from refreshing.
5:45 -- Felix Jones is working as the second-team tailback, but Wade Phillips talked about the possibility of using him some as a receiver. The Cowboys worked on a few packages during the spring that put Jones and Marion Barber on the field together.
5:48 -- T.O. has switched it up and gone with the dark blue spandex this afternoon. ... Still doing position drills. ... Big Danny Amendola fan in the crowd, apparently.
5:52 -- First drop I've seen by T.O. during this camp. Had a ball clank off his hands after running a skinny post vs. air. A couple groans in the crowd.
5:57 -- Answers to a couple questions: I'd assume the official beer of the Dallas Cowboys is being sold on premises, since there's about a 25-foot tall Miller Lite inflatable can by one of the fields. ... Anthony Spencer, who had a sack in the morning practice, will be on the field more this season. He'll spell Greg Ellis more than last year. The Cowboys used a 3-3 look their three pass-rushing OLBs on the field together in some passing situations last season. We'll see more of that. ... Still doing position drills.
6:00 -- Looks like competitive stuff is about to start. I'll be back in a bit. Gotta head to the field so I can actually see.
6:11 -- We've got OL/DL 1-on-1s and 7-on-7. ... I focused more on the big boys, but I did see Jason Witten make a catch that's the Play of the Day frontrunner. Witten ran a seam route and was well covered by Bradie James. Romo threw it over his wrong shoulder, and Witten made a phenomenal adjustment to catch the ball on the run. ... LT Flozell Adams absolutely mauled rookie DE Darrell Robertson, knocking the undrafted kid to the ground. ... NT Jay Ratliff blew by Pro Bowl C Andre Gurode. DE Chris Canty did the same to OG Kyle Kosier. ... Jason Hatcher made such a powerful, quick swim move that Pro Bowl G Leonard "Bigg" Davis stumbled to the turf. ... LT Doug Free has vastly improved. He only gets beat most of the time by DeMarcus Ware now. It was every snap last summer. ... Martellus Bennett ain't in the Big 12 anymore. He got bull-rushed by Greg Ellis and beat badly on an inside move by Ware. ... Mike Jenkins got here a few minutes ago but has yet to get in any drills. ... FG work about to start.
6:25 -- Only saw one miss by Nick Folk, and that one clanked off the goal post. ... Now working on punt coverage. Training camp leg Jay Ottovegio is handling the punting, so Mat McBriar can save his leg. ... Adam Jones, Terence Newman and Patrick Crayton are back there catching punts. That's not something Felix Jones does well, according to his college position coach.
6:28 -- Ex-Cowboy RB Duane Thomas, a Dallas Lincoln High product famous for not talking to the media during his playing days, is here. He chatted with a bunch of reporters this afternoon. Archer was in that group, so he might have something from Thomas a little later or in tomorrow's paper.
6:32 -- Actually, Nick Folk went 5-for-7, per Calvin "Lucky" Watkins. He missed two of his first three. Believe the kicks were in the 40-yard range.
6:35 -- 11-on-11 about to start. Off to the field I go. Be back in a bit.
7:14 -- Sorry for the delay, folks. Practice ended, and I had to stick around for interviews. Here are some highlights from the late 11-on-11 work: T.O. fell down on a deep ball, but Ken Hamlin dropped what should have been an easy pick. ... Felix Jones and Marion Barber split reps with the first team. Jones got knocked to the ground picking up OLB Darrell Robertson, but the block gave Tony Romo enough time to deliver a pass across the middle to TE Martellus Bennett. ... Romo had a beautiful strike to TE Jason Witten on a seam route, putting the ball in a tiny window over Witten's shoulder. Justin Rogers, who has moved to ILB, had good coverage on the play but never turned his head to find the ball. ... NT Jay Ratliff tore up the 2's, getting a tackle for loss on one play and sack the next. NT Tank Johnson was consistently disruptive against backup C Cory Procter, too. ... Didn't see first-round CB Mike Jenkins get any reps after arriving in the middle of practice. Alan Ball played right CB with the first-team dime package. ... DeMarcus Ware, the dude Wade Phillips was pumping up as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, was all over the backfield. Nothing new there. ... WR Isaiah Stanback showed impressive acceleration when he turned the corner on a reverse. ... The play that probably got the biggest reaction from the crowd was an incomplete pass. Adam Jones was step for step with T.O., preventing him from making a play from the ball. I would have thrown a flag for pass interference.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:26 PM
<< Home