Friday, July 31, 2009

BTB: Friday's Practice #4

Dallas Cowboys 2009 Training Camp: Practice #4
by Dave Halprin (Grizz) on Jul 31, 2009 6:37 PM

Full pads for today's affair. Stephen Hodge, Tim Anderson still rehabbing. One thing I like, DeAngelo Smith was out on the field 30 minutes before practice catching punts from the machine. Nice to see a rookie dedicated like that.

Started out with special teams drills again, and then went into some punts. Mat McBriar was crushing the punts today, high and far. Catching punts: Felix Jones, Terence Newman, Patrick Crayton, and Willie Reid. After team stretching they went into some FGs with both Nick Folk and David Buehler.

The defense then broke off and did drills that were all about fumbles. They did stations were the defensive groups rotated - they worked on falling on fumbles and properly wrapping it up, stripping the ball from the QB from behind, trying to punch the ball out of the ball-carrier's hands from behind and keeping a fumble in-bounds so another player could fall on it. Nice, we need turnovers this year.

While all that was going on, Buehler was practicing on-sides kicks. The guy was pounding them into the turf and having them pop up, they were going almost exactly 10 yards and right into the hands of Folk. His accuracy at getting the distance and keeping it in-bounds w\as uncanny, Folk rarely had to move to catch it.

The broke off into 9-on-9 on one side and WR vs. DB on the other. I followed the WRs/DBs. Jenkins had great coverage on Crayton for an incompletion, Austin caught a slant in front of Courtney Brown, then Scandrick had great coverage on Kevin Ogletree for an incompletion. Stanback made a very nice catch on Alan Ball, Jesse Holley cooked Mike Mickens on a bomb, Mickens had to commit pass interference to stop it. Mike Jefferson blew right by Newman for a bomb, Crayton made a great in and out move to lose Scandrick, and Willie Reid beat Ball for a tough catch.

Mickens had nice coverage on Hurd for an incompletion, T-New looked good against Austin, then Roy almost made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch on a bomb with tight coverage from Jenkins, but just couldn't hold on to it. Stanback beat Scandrick short, Scandrick gave him way too much room, then Jefferson cooked Mickens on a stop and go pattern deep. Julian Hawkins made a nice grab against T-New but ended up out-of-bounds. Austin caught a short one on Jenkins and Crayton abused Courtney Brown on a deep pass. Roy and Scandrick had a real physical battle on a short pattern to the sidelines with Roy winning the battle and making the catch. Manuel Johnson had and easy time with DeAngelo Smith, Reid caught a short one on Mickens and Hurd ran an excellent route to shake Brown.

D. Smith came back with nice coverage on a deep pass, then Scandrick got inside Reid on a dig route to break it up and Jefferson spun Brown around to make a short catch. Hawkins ran a good route to shake Mickens, then D. Smith was all over Austin on a deep pass. Crayton ran a route to the sidelines and got his hands on the ball up high but Jenkins recovered to knock it out of his hands before he could complete the catch. T-New had no problem covering Reid, Roy beat Scandrick on a short pass to the sidelines and Holley was able to shake C. Brown for a catch.

After that, they did 7-on-7 while the OL battled the DL. I followed the 7-on-7. Romo overthrew Witten on an out pattern, Bennett caught a short pass then Romo tried to hit Witten deep but Bradie James had excellent coverage. Hurd made a nice catch while simultaneously being hit from behind by Jenkins, Scandrick broke up a pass for Bennett and Roy caught one over the middle in front of C. Brown. Kitna threw a short pass to Scott Chandler, had a terrible throw to John Phillips, hit Ogletree in front of D. Smith and finished with and overthrow of and open Reid on the sidelines. McGee hit Hawkins in the hands but he dropped it and then connected with Philips on a short one.

Romo came back on and threw short to Witten, hit Austin in the flats, then just missed Austin on an out pattern. He tried to hit Bennett on a deep pass but Bennett's feet got tangled up with T-New and the ball was incomplete. He finished with a pass that had beautiful touch and floated softly into Jefferson's hands and then threw a swing pass to Felix. Kitna threw short to Bennett, then tried a pass over the middle but Mike Hamlin tipped the ball in the air then dove to make the INT. Kitna finished with short passes to Bennett and Hurd. Rudy Carpenter threw short to Keon Lattimore and then got picked-off by Scandrick.

Practice closed with a long session of 11-on-11. Wade was turning the defense loose as they blitzed often and they used nickel/dime coverages where they were putting two safeties near the line and only one linebacker. The defense got the better of the offense most of the day. Romo started by hitting Witten over the middle between Brooking and Sensabaugh, then Ratliff stuffed an MB3 run. Roy caught one on the sidelines in front of Scandrick, Felix caught a swing pass but Carpenter had good pursuit, then Felix tried a sweep but Brandon Williams fought the block and turned it into traffic. Kyle Kosier had a false start and was replaced and Romo hit Hurd on a deep pass that Hurd leaped high to get. Kitna rolled-out under pressure from Ocatvien and hit Phillips on a short pass. He tried to go deep to Reid but C. Brown and D. Smith had bracketed coverage. Choice caught a short pass but Jason Williams was right there for the stop. Anthony Spencer timed a rush to get good pressure forcing a dump-off, and Bennett caught a short pass but Brooking was all over him. McGee handed to Choice up the middle but Carpenter stuffed it. Lattimore caught a swing pass but Jerome Carter came up and accidentally decked him. Lattimore tried a run but had no room and then Brandon Williams got good pressure causing a throw-away.

Romo was back and immediately felt pressure from Octavien, he threw it to Crayton who dropped it. After a dump-off to MB3, he threw to Roy but Mickens was there, they both caught the ball and Mickens ended up with it. Witten got loose down the seam and Romo hit him in stride, they tried a pitch to Felix but Brooking and Bradie ate it up. They tried a reverse to Felix but he was forced to cut it back inside where Bradie was waiting. Kitna started out by overthrowing Reid on the sideline, next threw an incompletion after B. Williams applied pressure, and then threw the ball right to Ball who dropped the INT. Choice took and inside handoff and cut back outside for a long run followed by an Alonzo Coleman draw play that went for big yards. Rudy Carpenter threw a dump-off to Manuel Johnson, then pitched it to Coleman but Spencer disrupted the blocking and Bradie made the tackle. They tried a screen that had no chance as the blitz was on him before it could develop and finished by having Jenkins break up a pass.

That was that.