DMN Blog: Live from Oxnard V: Terence Newman visits trainer
by Tim MacMahon
Weather: 67 degrees and cloudy
Practice doesn't start until 11 a.m., but the stands have been packed for a while. And there was a pretty thunderous boo a few minutes ago when a dude wearing an Eagles jersey arrived.
OK, follow the jump for practice updates that will come just as fast as my eyes can see and my fingers can type ...
10:54 -- The fellas are in full pads this morning. ... Just warming up now.
10:56 -- New UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow is visiting this morning. He crossed paths with Adam "Pacman" Jones in Tennessee, working as the Titans' offensive coordinator the last three seasons. They shared a warm welcome when Chow walked onto the field.
11:02 -- Three players not here: LB Justin Rogers (virus), LB Tearrius George (hyperextended knee) and CB Quincy Butler (unknown). Todd Archer is tracking down what's wrong with Butler.
11:04 -- Stretching starting. ... Reluctant media buzz is about whether Jessica Simpson will show up today. No signs of Tony Romo's main squeeze yet.
11:07 -- Answering questions: DE Marcus Dixon, who is working with the third-team D, is a practice squad candidate. He hasn't done anything to make me notice him yet. ... Darrell Robertson has been more active than Erik Walden, from what I've seen. However, Walden has the potential to be a pretty good special teams player. Neither of those guys will get on the field for meaningful defensive snaps during the regular season unless DeMarcus Ware, Greg Ellis or Anthony Spencer goes down.
11:11 -- Stretching over. Defense doing position drills. Offense running plays vs. air.
11:14 -- More answers: Richard Bartel has his moments. He has an extremely strong arm and seems to have improved his accuracy. I was not impressed with a few decisions he made to throw balls in traffic across the middle during yesterday's team drills. ... First-round CB Mike Jenkins has only gotten reps in one practice. I didn't see him make any plays, but I didn't see him get toasted, either. Fifth-rounder Orlando Scandrick has been OK. His biggest impact this season should come on special teams. I believe he blocked seven kicks in three seasons at Boise State. ... Jay Ratliff hasn't gotten many reps at DE, just enough to be ready to play the position. Chris Canty has been the right DE when Ratliff and Tank Johnson are on the field together. ... Noncompetitive position drills right now.
11:20 -- OK, you wanna talk Roy Williams. I don't put much stock in him being slimmed down, since that was the case when he arrived at camp last season, too. Anthony Henry will take Williams' spot in the nickel and dime packages, which is simply a case of wise personnel management. The biggest change I see with Williams is the return of Dave Campo, who has clearly made it a priority to rebuild No. 38's confidence. The hope is that Williams can get back to being a punishing, ball-separating force on first and second downs. ... Will keep a close eye on the rookie corners today.
11:27 -- Danny Amendola is getting a lot of hype, but don't completely count out Mike Jefferson in the fight for a roster spot. Jefferson, who spent last season on the practice squad, gets a lot of attention from WR coach Ray Sherman. That wouldn't happen if Sherman didn't think that Jefferson had a chance.
11:30 -- Can't see the Cowboys keeping four tight ends. Rodney Hannah's best chance to be on an NFL roster is to impress during preseason and get picked up by another team. If he stays at Valley Ranch, it'll be on the practice squad. .... Dowayne Davis is getting a lot of reps as the second-team SS. But if Roy Williams goes down, I would think that Ken Hamlin would slide over and Courtney Brown or Pat Watkins would play FS. ... Still doing noncompetitive position drills. Action should start soon.
11:33 -- Felix vs. Julius: Felix has a much better burst and is more of a big-play threat. He's also a significantly better receiver, although Arkansas didn't have a good passing game. The Cowboys can do things formation-wise with Felix, such as putting him in the slot or motioning him from the backfield out wide, that they didn't do last season. Plus, Felix has a chance to be the primary kick returner. Felix might just shoot down my Curse of 22 theory.
11:37 -- About to get some action. I'm headed to the field so I can see. Be back in a bit.
11:52 -- I got a good look at the inside run and DB/WR 1-on-1 drills. ... I raved about the defensive line yesterday, but the first-team offense "won" the inside run drills. RT Marc Colombo was singled out for praise by OL coach Hudson Hauck. ... Felix Jones showed his elusiveness, juking Zach Thomas in the hole on one play. You won't find a much more sound tackler than Thomas, but his jock was loosened on that play. ... Second-team ILB Kevin Burnett, whose playing time comes in the nickel and dime packages, had a good session. He made two straight stops at or behind the line of scrimmage. ... FB Deon "Cricket" Anderson knocked Thomas back a few steps on one lead block. ... NT Tank Johnson had a stop at the line of scrimmage on Jones. ... From the WR/DB scene: The T.O.-Pacman show was a draw. T.O. caught a couple balls in front of Adam Jones, but they were on intermediate routes with Jones in position to make a quick tackle. There was at least one incompletion when those two went at it. ... First-round CB Mike Jenkins is good at pressing a receiver. Isaiah Stanback couldn't get off the jam on one play, disrupting his route and ruining the rhythm with the QB. ... Stanback did beat Jenkins badly on an out route, leaving him at the break. He also caught a deep ball on Jenkins, who had good coverage. Stanback made a good adjustment on the ball thrown to his back shoulder, and Jenkins never made a play on the ball. ... Patrick Crayton caught a go route on Scandrick. The coverage was pretty good, but Richard Bartel's pass was perfect. ... Beautiful one-handed catch by Crayton on a crossing route. ... Danny Amendola couldn't make a similar grab on an overthrown deep ball. ... Sam Hurd is just smooth. He made a pretty catch on a high pass after running a crossing route and never broke his stride. ... Todd Lowber, the WR signed yesterday, toasted Anthony Henry on a post route. Henry doesn't get paid millions to play man coverage.
12:04 -- Terence Newman walked off with head trainer Jim Maurer. Not sure what's wrong, but Newman is walking back on the field now. Jenkins is getting reps with first-team D. ... Gonna go watch 11-on-11s. Be back in a bit.
12:20 -- Newman didn't take any reps. He's walking without a limp. More on that situation when we find out what's wrong. ... Jay Ratliff had another good session. He made a TFL on the first snap and flushed Romo from the pocket later. Bradie James also had pressure on that play, forcing a throwaway. ... TE Tony Curtis appears to have made major strides as a blocker. I was impressed with his work during inside run drills, and he looked good as a pass protector in team drills. He handled Anthony Spencer without help on one play and withstood a Greg Ellis bull rush on another. ... Courtney Brown got the second-team SS reps. ... LB Bobby Carpenter had a sack vs. the 2s. Big TE Rodney Hannah made a leaping catch across the middle over Carpenter a few plays later. ... Adam "Pacman" Jones played a smoke screen to Mike Jefferson perfectly. It would have been a 1- or 2-yard gain. ... Jones was step for step with Miles Austin on a post route that fell incomplete. Might have been interference. ... DE Marcus Spears blew up a counter play in the backfield. .... LB Zach Thomas had a stop at the line of scrimmage. Thomas couldn't catch Felix Jones after the rookie caught a short pass and turned it upfield. .... CB Evan Oglesby picked off a deep ball that was underthrown by Richard Bartel. ... RT Marc Colombo had a false start. ... Example of a mistake by a rookie making transition from DE to OLB: Erik Walden was completely fooled on a TE screen to Tony Curtis. ... CB Quincy Butler has a hamstring injury.
12:28 -- They're working on kick coverage/return, which isn't too exciting. But Rowdy is keeping the crowd entertained, roaring around the sidelines on his tricked-out four-wheeler. ... Terence Newman just walked off with athletic trainer Britt Brown. Still not sure what's wrong with him.
12:31 -- More action about to get underway. I'm headed down to the field and probably won't return until after post-practice interviews. I'll update this post with highlights. We'll handle the Newman news in a separate post.
1:17 -- Late 11-on-11 highlights: DE Chris Canty had a sack on the first snap. ... RG Leonard "Bigg" Davis had a false start, but he made up for it by opening up a huge hole on a counter the next play. ... Felix Jones had an impressive session. He showed great burst on one draw, following a Patrick Crayton block on Evan Oglesby that cleared the way for a big play. Jones wiggled through traffic on a draw minutes later, leading several players that were watching to holler, "Whoooo!" ... Backup LT Doug Free swallowed up LB Bobby Carpenter on a running play, but Tashard Choice pulled a Julius Jones and fell down after 4 yards when a big play was possible. ... Carpenter played a off-tackle run well later, meeting Marion Barber about a yard past the line of scrimmage. Of course, that's not even half the battle with a punishing runner like Barber, but the Cowboys aren't tackling in practice. ... CB Adam "Pacman" Jones had a nice deflection on an out route to Patrick Crayton. Tony Romo's pass was a little high, and Pacman showed great hops to get up and slap the ball away. ... Fifth-round CB Orlando Scandrick got Dave Campo all fired up. Campo sprinted in to give Scandrick five after the rookie blanketed T.O. on a curl route, forcing an incompletion. ... The latter part of the session was third-down red zone work. T.O. gave first-round CB Mike Jenkins a welcome-to-the-NFL shoulder near the goal line after catching a drag and turning upfield. ... WR Isaiah Stanback showed great acceleration on another reverse. He also made a nice, subtle move to elude DeMarcus Ware in the backfield. ... OLB Greg Ellis blew by backup RT Pat McQuistan for a sack. ...
Weather: 67 degrees and cloudy
Practice doesn't start until 11 a.m., but the stands have been packed for a while. And there was a pretty thunderous boo a few minutes ago when a dude wearing an Eagles jersey arrived.
OK, follow the jump for practice updates that will come just as fast as my eyes can see and my fingers can type ...
10:54 -- The fellas are in full pads this morning. ... Just warming up now.
10:56 -- New UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow is visiting this morning. He crossed paths with Adam "Pacman" Jones in Tennessee, working as the Titans' offensive coordinator the last three seasons. They shared a warm welcome when Chow walked onto the field.
11:02 -- Three players not here: LB Justin Rogers (virus), LB Tearrius George (hyperextended knee) and CB Quincy Butler (unknown). Todd Archer is tracking down what's wrong with Butler.
11:04 -- Stretching starting. ... Reluctant media buzz is about whether Jessica Simpson will show up today. No signs of Tony Romo's main squeeze yet.
11:07 -- Answering questions: DE Marcus Dixon, who is working with the third-team D, is a practice squad candidate. He hasn't done anything to make me notice him yet. ... Darrell Robertson has been more active than Erik Walden, from what I've seen. However, Walden has the potential to be a pretty good special teams player. Neither of those guys will get on the field for meaningful defensive snaps during the regular season unless DeMarcus Ware, Greg Ellis or Anthony Spencer goes down.
11:11 -- Stretching over. Defense doing position drills. Offense running plays vs. air.
11:14 -- More answers: Richard Bartel has his moments. He has an extremely strong arm and seems to have improved his accuracy. I was not impressed with a few decisions he made to throw balls in traffic across the middle during yesterday's team drills. ... First-round CB Mike Jenkins has only gotten reps in one practice. I didn't see him make any plays, but I didn't see him get toasted, either. Fifth-rounder Orlando Scandrick has been OK. His biggest impact this season should come on special teams. I believe he blocked seven kicks in three seasons at Boise State. ... Jay Ratliff hasn't gotten many reps at DE, just enough to be ready to play the position. Chris Canty has been the right DE when Ratliff and Tank Johnson are on the field together. ... Noncompetitive position drills right now.
11:20 -- OK, you wanna talk Roy Williams. I don't put much stock in him being slimmed down, since that was the case when he arrived at camp last season, too. Anthony Henry will take Williams' spot in the nickel and dime packages, which is simply a case of wise personnel management. The biggest change I see with Williams is the return of Dave Campo, who has clearly made it a priority to rebuild No. 38's confidence. The hope is that Williams can get back to being a punishing, ball-separating force on first and second downs. ... Will keep a close eye on the rookie corners today.
11:27 -- Danny Amendola is getting a lot of hype, but don't completely count out Mike Jefferson in the fight for a roster spot. Jefferson, who spent last season on the practice squad, gets a lot of attention from WR coach Ray Sherman. That wouldn't happen if Sherman didn't think that Jefferson had a chance.
11:30 -- Can't see the Cowboys keeping four tight ends. Rodney Hannah's best chance to be on an NFL roster is to impress during preseason and get picked up by another team. If he stays at Valley Ranch, it'll be on the practice squad. .... Dowayne Davis is getting a lot of reps as the second-team SS. But if Roy Williams goes down, I would think that Ken Hamlin would slide over and Courtney Brown or Pat Watkins would play FS. ... Still doing noncompetitive position drills. Action should start soon.
11:33 -- Felix vs. Julius: Felix has a much better burst and is more of a big-play threat. He's also a significantly better receiver, although Arkansas didn't have a good passing game. The Cowboys can do things formation-wise with Felix, such as putting him in the slot or motioning him from the backfield out wide, that they didn't do last season. Plus, Felix has a chance to be the primary kick returner. Felix might just shoot down my Curse of 22 theory.
11:37 -- About to get some action. I'm headed to the field so I can see. Be back in a bit.
11:52 -- I got a good look at the inside run and DB/WR 1-on-1 drills. ... I raved about the defensive line yesterday, but the first-team offense "won" the inside run drills. RT Marc Colombo was singled out for praise by OL coach Hudson Hauck. ... Felix Jones showed his elusiveness, juking Zach Thomas in the hole on one play. You won't find a much more sound tackler than Thomas, but his jock was loosened on that play. ... Second-team ILB Kevin Burnett, whose playing time comes in the nickel and dime packages, had a good session. He made two straight stops at or behind the line of scrimmage. ... FB Deon "Cricket" Anderson knocked Thomas back a few steps on one lead block. ... NT Tank Johnson had a stop at the line of scrimmage on Jones. ... From the WR/DB scene: The T.O.-Pacman show was a draw. T.O. caught a couple balls in front of Adam Jones, but they were on intermediate routes with Jones in position to make a quick tackle. There was at least one incompletion when those two went at it. ... First-round CB Mike Jenkins is good at pressing a receiver. Isaiah Stanback couldn't get off the jam on one play, disrupting his route and ruining the rhythm with the QB. ... Stanback did beat Jenkins badly on an out route, leaving him at the break. He also caught a deep ball on Jenkins, who had good coverage. Stanback made a good adjustment on the ball thrown to his back shoulder, and Jenkins never made a play on the ball. ... Patrick Crayton caught a go route on Scandrick. The coverage was pretty good, but Richard Bartel's pass was perfect. ... Beautiful one-handed catch by Crayton on a crossing route. ... Danny Amendola couldn't make a similar grab on an overthrown deep ball. ... Sam Hurd is just smooth. He made a pretty catch on a high pass after running a crossing route and never broke his stride. ... Todd Lowber, the WR signed yesterday, toasted Anthony Henry on a post route. Henry doesn't get paid millions to play man coverage.
12:04 -- Terence Newman walked off with head trainer Jim Maurer. Not sure what's wrong, but Newman is walking back on the field now. Jenkins is getting reps with first-team D. ... Gonna go watch 11-on-11s. Be back in a bit.
12:20 -- Newman didn't take any reps. He's walking without a limp. More on that situation when we find out what's wrong. ... Jay Ratliff had another good session. He made a TFL on the first snap and flushed Romo from the pocket later. Bradie James also had pressure on that play, forcing a throwaway. ... TE Tony Curtis appears to have made major strides as a blocker. I was impressed with his work during inside run drills, and he looked good as a pass protector in team drills. He handled Anthony Spencer without help on one play and withstood a Greg Ellis bull rush on another. ... Courtney Brown got the second-team SS reps. ... LB Bobby Carpenter had a sack vs. the 2s. Big TE Rodney Hannah made a leaping catch across the middle over Carpenter a few plays later. ... Adam "Pacman" Jones played a smoke screen to Mike Jefferson perfectly. It would have been a 1- or 2-yard gain. ... Jones was step for step with Miles Austin on a post route that fell incomplete. Might have been interference. ... DE Marcus Spears blew up a counter play in the backfield. .... LB Zach Thomas had a stop at the line of scrimmage. Thomas couldn't catch Felix Jones after the rookie caught a short pass and turned it upfield. .... CB Evan Oglesby picked off a deep ball that was underthrown by Richard Bartel. ... RT Marc Colombo had a false start. ... Example of a mistake by a rookie making transition from DE to OLB: Erik Walden was completely fooled on a TE screen to Tony Curtis. ... CB Quincy Butler has a hamstring injury.
12:28 -- They're working on kick coverage/return, which isn't too exciting. But Rowdy is keeping the crowd entertained, roaring around the sidelines on his tricked-out four-wheeler. ... Terence Newman just walked off with athletic trainer Britt Brown. Still not sure what's wrong with him.
12:31 -- More action about to get underway. I'm headed down to the field and probably won't return until after post-practice interviews. I'll update this post with highlights. We'll handle the Newman news in a separate post.
1:17 -- Late 11-on-11 highlights: DE Chris Canty had a sack on the first snap. ... RG Leonard "Bigg" Davis had a false start, but he made up for it by opening up a huge hole on a counter the next play. ... Felix Jones had an impressive session. He showed great burst on one draw, following a Patrick Crayton block on Evan Oglesby that cleared the way for a big play. Jones wiggled through traffic on a draw minutes later, leading several players that were watching to holler, "Whoooo!" ... Backup LT Doug Free swallowed up LB Bobby Carpenter on a running play, but Tashard Choice pulled a Julius Jones and fell down after 4 yards when a big play was possible. ... Carpenter played a off-tackle run well later, meeting Marion Barber about a yard past the line of scrimmage. Of course, that's not even half the battle with a punishing runner like Barber, but the Cowboys aren't tackling in practice. ... CB Adam "Pacman" Jones had a nice deflection on an out route to Patrick Crayton. Tony Romo's pass was a little high, and Pacman showed great hops to get up and slap the ball away. ... Fifth-round CB Orlando Scandrick got Dave Campo all fired up. Campo sprinted in to give Scandrick five after the rookie blanketed T.O. on a curl route, forcing an incompletion. ... The latter part of the session was third-down red zone work. T.O. gave first-round CB Mike Jenkins a welcome-to-the-NFL shoulder near the goal line after catching a drag and turning upfield. ... WR Isaiah Stanback showed great acceleration on another reverse. He also made a nice, subtle move to elude DeMarcus Ware in the backfield. ... OLB Greg Ellis blew by backup RT Pat McQuistan for a sack. ...
posted by The Gryphon at 5:19 PM
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