Live from Oxnard I 4:12 PM Fri, Jul 25, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz Tim MacMahon E-mail News tips Weather: 67 degrees and sunny. The Cowboys are warming up with about 1,000 screaming fans in the stands in Oxnard, Calif. We're minutes away from the season's first practice, which means it's time for some full-fledged live-blogging fun. First, let me thank the Cowboys PR staff for helping me get a set-up that suits my need. It's not quite a 50-yard line seat in the Alamodome press box, but this table on the tennis courts behind the two fields will do fine. I do have a skinny tree in front of the right field, and a tent is blocking my view of the corner of the left field. But this will do just fine, and I'll get off my tail and leave the laptop for a few minutes if need be. OK, on to football. Follow the jump and refresh like crazy. If you get any work done over the next couple of hours, you're an awful Cowboys fan. UPDATE: Forgot to mention that you folks should feel free to fire off questions. I'll try to answer some during stretching and breaks, and we'll attempt to address others with our post-practice coverage. 4:19 -- Guess who was the first player on the field? Adam Jones. 4:20 -- Wade Phillips, a nice guy but not exactly the most quotable fella, is wearing a microphone for the NFL Films/Hard Knocks folks. I'm guessing that he won't say a whole lot that will make the cut for the HBO show. 4:24 -- T.O. made his grand entrance. Pretty sure he was the last player here to get on the field, and the crowd chanted his name as he jogged/strutted through the gate. He's sporting black spandex -- everybody else is in shorts, other than football-pants-wearing Brad Johnson. He went over and joked with Greg Ellis, Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware. Oh, the dude with the huge popcorn box is here, sticking to his goal of getting T.O. to sign it. 4:31 -- WR Miles Austin is wearing white shorts (others are in blue). That might be a tribute to Terry Glenn, who always sported the whites. ... Team just going through warm-up drills now. 4:33 -- CB Terence Newman went through the passing lines with the wide receivers. Adam Jones, whom Jerry has mentioned might see spot duty at receiver, did not. ... Stretching just started. http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/archives...m-oxnard-i.html
4:35 -- We've blogged this yesterday and had it in today's paper, but figured I'd remind you folks that the Cowboys aren't in pads today. Just helmets. LB/blogger Kevin Burnett and DE Chris Canty have joined Brad Johnson in the football pants crew, but there will be no hitting. That means you shouldn't expect a whole lot of blogging about the big boys today. 4:38 -- NT Tank Johnson made like a cheerleader for a minute, waving his arms and working the crowd into a frenzy. He's a fun-loving guy who is letting his personality show. He played it close-to-the-vest after his controversial arrival in Dallas last season, but he's comfortable as a Cowboy now. 4:40 -- Stretching over. Defense doing pursuit drills. Offense running plays vs. air. It doesn't get much more thrilling than this!!!
Newman on offense is a bit interesting.... I know he did some of this at KSU. He's a helluva athlete to boot.
4:43 -- Position drills now. Nothing competitive. O-line on the sled clear across the field offers highest entertainment value. ... DB Tyler Everett just dropped a ball that hit him between the 3 and 7. Not sure who this is...... but he aint making the team. Not because of this drop either.... but because we already have our 10 DBs (Newman, Henry, Jones, Jenkins, Scandrick, Ball, Williams, Hamlin, Watkins, and Brown). Maybe we take him to P.S....but that's about it. He's competing for another job or for P.S. \
4:49 -- Brad Johnson, who turns 40 in September, is still awfully accurate on swing passes and routes less than 5 yards. More interesting observations to come once something interesting happens.
4:52 -- Cornerbacks are paired up working on press techniques. Adam Jones and Terence Newman are together. Just a small example of Newman following through on his vow to help the young CBs after he got his big contract. I think I'm sporting wood now....
4:58 -- The crowd is silent. Just nothing to buzz about right now. QBs and WRs are together now, but still nothing competitive. ... Isaiah Stanback made a leaping grab on a crossing route that got some applause. ... Hopefully, we'll get some 7-on-7 soon. Supposedly, Stanback has looked good in crossing routes and stuff.....but has struggled with the deep ball and getting lost on the sidelines
5:01 -- Undrafted WR Danny Amendola made a nice tippy-toe catch on the sideline when training camp arm Jeff Terrell had an out route float on him. Terrell's a lefty, by the way. 5:05 -- Offensive skill position guys are running through pass plays. Tony Curtis is still working as the No. 2 TE, as he did during OTAs and minicamp. We'll see how long it takes Martellus Bennett to earn the job he was drafted to do. 5:09 -- Still nothing competitive, but Tony Romo firing a bomb to T.O. got the crowd going.
5:11 -- Finally, some competition. 11-on-11 work about to start. No hitting, but we can at least get a look at the skill guys ... if we can see past the wall of players in front of us. Woohoo!! 11 on 11 drills.
5:13 -- Started off with running plays. You really can't tell anything when they run up the middle without pads. Zach Thomas gave a glimpse of his ability to diagnose a play and get to the football by meeting Marion Barber behind the line of scrimmage on a sweep. 5:16 -- Fourth-round RB Tashard Choice isn't extremely fast, but he has good vision and is a decisive runner. He showed that by finding the hole and making a quick cut on a run up the middle. ... RB Alonzo Coleman, who dealt with a bum ankle all of last season as a rookie, was a bit too quick for Brad Johnson on a stretch play. Johnson ate grass after extending to make the handoff. ... Coleman has the most impressive physique of the backs. He's stocky but chiseled with huge arms. 5:23 -- NT Junior Siavii moves awfully well for a 6-5, 330-pound guy. He looked quick chasing Alonzo Coleman on a stretch play. But Siavii is going to have to be very impressive to crack the roster with Jay Ratliff and Tank Johnson on the team. ... 11-on-11 ends with a grand total of zero passes thrown. Breaking into position drills. ...
5:26 -- Nick Folk vs. Martin Gramatica was a pretty good storyline during last season's camp. Folk has no competition this summer after a Pro Bowl rookie season. Cowboys FG team is getting some work in, but Folk isn't actually kicking the ball. Nothing like live blogging FG snaps, huh? L.P. Ladouceur has been money so far. ... Mat McBriar is holding, but I'm not sure I'd read anything into that. That's Brad Johnson's job, but he's working with the WRs on the other field. 5:31 -- This has to be a disappointment for the fans who traveled here and paid for parking. This is just boring. I'm sitting next to the ESPN 103.3 tent, so at least I get to listen to Chuck Cooperstein. 5:33 -- Terry Glenn denied the ESPN report that he has agreed to a split-salary contract. Check out Calvin "Lucky" Watkins' post on the Glenn saga. Quote from Glenn text message: "No agreement. False info."
5:37 -- Got some 7-on-7 action. ... Tony Romo fired a bullet to Patrick Crayton to complete a 10-yard out. Romo squeezed the ball in a small window with Terence Newman blanketing Crayton. ... SS Roy Williams fell down after getting beat on a crossing route by TE Tony Curtis. ... PBU by LB Bradie James on a hook to Jason Witten, who caught a pass across the middle the next play. ... Williams just redeemed himself by breaking up a pass to Witten in the flat. 5:40 -- Anthony Henry is working with the first-team at CB. Don't expect that to change soon despite Adam Jones' immense talent. ... Jones got matched up with T.O. a couple plays ago. T.O. got decent separation on a comeback, but Brad Johnson didn't throw him the ball. ... Jones was in Patrick Crayton's hip pocket on a post route. 5:53 -- Undrafted WR Danny Amendola is the leader for Play of the Day. He laid out to catch a deep ball from Richard Bartel after getting a step on CB Alan Ball. ... WR Sam Hurd got great separation from Adam Jones on a 15-yard out route, catching Brad Johnson's pass and turning up the sideline before getting bumped out of bounds. Getting separation has been a problem for Hurd....hopefully this is a good sign.
5:46 -- Tony Romo just overthrew a wide-open T.O. on a deep ball behind the third-team secondary. Couldn't tell whether fifth-round CB Orlando Scandrick or S Tyler Everett blew the coverage. 5:50 -- Great break by second-year CB Alan Ball to deflect a comeback route to Isaiah Stanback. The Brad Johnson pass didn't have a whole lot of zip on it, believe it or not. 5:54 -- Jerry Jones is about to address the media horde, so we'll have the Cowboys' side of the Terry Glenn saga soon. I'm not in the horde, but Calvin "Lucky" Watkins has graciously agreed to hold my tape recorder. I'll give you the gist of what Jones says and then follow up with quotes/detail after all the post-practice interviews.
6:00 -- Jerry announced that the Cowboys will waive Terry Glenn. They are not closing the door on the possibility that he will rejoin the team down the road, but they don't want to risk him reinjuring the knee while rehabbing on their dime. Glenn will also be free to sign with another team. Much more to come on this. 6:06 -- Highlight of the special teams drills: OT Marc Colombo showing off his soft hands by catching a TD pass on a fake FG. It got a big roar from the crowd, but I might have been the only media member to see it. Everybody else is swarmed around Jerry, who is still answering questions. 6:10 -- More 11-on-11 work. ... First play was T.O. catching a hook from Romo. But he bobbled the ball and would have gotten drilled by FS Ken Hamlin in a game situation.
6:12 -- Big roar from crowd when T.O. caught a deep crossing route from Romo. He got great separation from Anthony Henry and caught the ball in front of Ken Hamlin. ... I vow not to get too worked up if Henry doesn't look great in training camp. He had a rough camp last summer and then played at a Pro Bowl level until suffering a high ankle sprain. 6:16 -- Jerry just got done yapping. ... Brad Johnson throwing checkdowns, swing passes, etc. ... FS Courtney Brown, who runs better than most cornerbacks, made a great play to break up a TE screen to Rodney Hannah. Brown ran a 4.32(?) 40 at the Combine..... Yeah, he's fast. Of course, he played CB in college.... The Henry stuff is nothing to worry about. We go through this EVERY year; he struggles in camp, plays well (until he gets hurt).
6:20 -- CB Quincy Butler just got a lucky pick on a pass to T.O. The ball was high and behind T.O., who tried to make what would have been an amazing, acrobatic grab. But the ball bounced off his hand, right into to Butler's arms. ... Butler didn't get to bask in any glory for more than a minute. He just got toasted deep by Sam Hurd.
Thanks Vintage! I'm excited that Choice and Stanback started out on the right foot. It's good to hear that Amendola continued to impress, but I'm still not sold on him making the team; it's too close to call. If they're serious about playing Newman on offense, and trying different DB pairings, we might see something really creative with all the depth at CB that we have.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vintage @ Jul 25 2008, 04:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>4:20 -- Wade Phillips, a nice guy but not exactly the most quotable fella, is wearing a microphone for the NFL Films/Hard Knocks folks. I'm guessing that he won't say a whole lot that will make the cut for the HBO show.</div> NFL Hardknocks: Baltimore Ravens (2001) Dallas Cowboys (2002) Kansas City Chiefs (2007) Dallas Cowboys (2008) Why twice with the same team? This is great for Dallas fans, but sheesh, let it go for a few more years before covering a previous team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vintage @ Jul 25 2008, 05:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>5:13 -- Started off with running plays. You really can't tell anything when they run up the middle without pads. Zach Thomas gave a glimpse of his ability to diagnose a play and get to the football by meeting Marion Barber behind the line of scrimmage on a sweep. 5:16 -- Fourth-round RB Tashard Choice isn't extremely fast, but he has good vision and is a decisive runner. He showed that by finding the hole and making a quick cut on a run up the middle. ... RB Alonzo Coleman, who dealt with a bum ankle all of last season as a rookie, was a bit too quick for Brad Johnson on a stretch play. Johnson ate grass after extending to make the handoff. ... Coleman has the most impressive physique of the backs. He's stocky but chiseled with huge arms. 5:23 -- NT Junior Siavii moves awfully well for a 6-5, 330-pound guy. He looked quick chasing Alonzo Coleman on a stretch play. But Siavii is going to have to be very impressive to crack the roster with Jay Ratliff and Tank Johnson on the team. ... 11-on-11 ends with a grand total of zero passes thrown. Breaking into position drills. ...</div> Junior Siavii was out of football for a few years until now. How is he looking this year? I remember that guy from the Chiefs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GMJigga @ Jul 25 2008, 08:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Thanks Vintage! I'm excited that Choice and Stanback started out on the right foot. It's good to hear that Amendola continued to impress, but I'm still not sold on him making the team; it's too close to call. If they're serious about playing Newman on offense, and trying different DB pairings, we might see something really creative with all the depth at CB that we have.</div> I'm not sure Amendola makes the roster either. Owens, Crayton, Hurd, Austin, Stanback are all ahead of him. I think with the release of Glenn the locks are: Owens, Crayton, Hurd, and Stanback. I think what you are going to see DB wise.....is Henry moved inside in dime packages to cover TEs 1v1. Look for Jenkins or Jones to move outside when this happens (obviously).
