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Cowboys Training Camp Report, Practice Number Three: Donning The Armor
After two days of training camp, both with two-a-day practices, camp "officially" opened on Saturday, an event marked by an official ceremony and, more importantly, the players donning pads for the first time since the week 17 loss to the Eagles to end the 2013 season.
Ladies and germs, the moment we have all been waiting for. After dispensing with the two CBA-mandated days of pad-less practices, your Beloved 'Boys came out in full armor and spent part of a beautiful afternoon pounding on each other.The last time most of these guys wore shoulder pads was in the week 17 "NFC East Championship Game" to conclude the 2013 season. So, needless to say, the addition of padding (and knee braces) were developments welcomed by all.
It certainly seemed that the players embraced all that pads signify. After a couple of slow, quiet days of dutifully running through basic, global drills, they seemed to attack today's work with noticeable gusto. This was particularly evident in the various "competitive periods" when the offense and defense went head-to-head: O-line vs. D-line; backs and tight ends vs. linebackers and safeties; wide receivers vs. cornerbacks.
After a peculiar opening ceremony (the Dallas Cowboys' Cheerleaders, spectacular in every way, were followed by a moribund percussion section from a local high school band; a rousing rendition of the national anthem preceded the Mayor of Oxnard listing each member of the Oxnard City Council), the Cowboys began practice by resuming work on kickoff returns. Yesterday, you may recall, this was also the target of their special teams period. Today, they revisited yesterday's lessons with further teaching of the same principles.
This was followed by the afternoon's first full team period, in which we caught a glimpse of what would prove to be the day's workload: a heavy dose of basic zone runs, elemental route combinations, a variety of personnel groupings). Whereas in previous days, this was a fairly spirited affair, since it was the only competition the players would see all day, today, it was the 11-on-11 walk-through we've come to expect, one in which players bottled their competitive juices for later in the day.
As per usual, the team then embarked upon an extended stretching period, in which (in preparation for the increased leg use that full contact demands), the players spent as many as 20 minutes on lower body stretching. As suggested in earlier reports, the Cowboys organization's behavior makes it clear: priority one is to avoid the hammy whammy, and the team seems hellbent to ensure that media wags cannot dub this year's affair "Camp Hamstring."
Once properly stretched and warmed, the team broke into position groups for drills. As I had been tracking the defensive side for the first two days, I concentrated on the offensive group today, with a first stop at the offensive line drills. As they did many a-time last year, O-line coaches Frank Pollack and Bill Callahan divvied their guys up into two groups: Callahan had the Left side of the line (LT, LG, OC) and Pollack took the right (OC, RG, RT). They started off with basic zone blocking principles: getting off at the snap and directing a defender in a given direction:
Continue reading...
After two days of training camp, both with two-a-day practices, camp "officially" opened on Saturday, an event marked by an official ceremony and, more importantly, the players donning pads for the first time since the week 17 loss to the Eagles to end the 2013 season.
Ladies and germs, the moment we have all been waiting for. After dispensing with the two CBA-mandated days of pad-less practices, your Beloved 'Boys came out in full armor and spent part of a beautiful afternoon pounding on each other.The last time most of these guys wore shoulder pads was in the week 17 "NFC East Championship Game" to conclude the 2013 season. So, needless to say, the addition of padding (and knee braces) were developments welcomed by all.
It certainly seemed that the players embraced all that pads signify. After a couple of slow, quiet days of dutifully running through basic, global drills, they seemed to attack today's work with noticeable gusto. This was particularly evident in the various "competitive periods" when the offense and defense went head-to-head: O-line vs. D-line; backs and tight ends vs. linebackers and safeties; wide receivers vs. cornerbacks.
After a peculiar opening ceremony (the Dallas Cowboys' Cheerleaders, spectacular in every way, were followed by a moribund percussion section from a local high school band; a rousing rendition of the national anthem preceded the Mayor of Oxnard listing each member of the Oxnard City Council), the Cowboys began practice by resuming work on kickoff returns. Yesterday, you may recall, this was also the target of their special teams period. Today, they revisited yesterday's lessons with further teaching of the same principles.
This was followed by the afternoon's first full team period, in which we caught a glimpse of what would prove to be the day's workload: a heavy dose of basic zone runs, elemental route combinations, a variety of personnel groupings). Whereas in previous days, this was a fairly spirited affair, since it was the only competition the players would see all day, today, it was the 11-on-11 walk-through we've come to expect, one in which players bottled their competitive juices for later in the day.
As per usual, the team then embarked upon an extended stretching period, in which (in preparation for the increased leg use that full contact demands), the players spent as many as 20 minutes on lower body stretching. As suggested in earlier reports, the Cowboys organization's behavior makes it clear: priority one is to avoid the hammy whammy, and the team seems hellbent to ensure that media wags cannot dub this year's affair "Camp Hamstring."
Once properly stretched and warmed, the team broke into position groups for drills. As I had been tracking the defensive side for the first two days, I concentrated on the offensive group today, with a first stop at the offensive line drills. As they did many a-time last year, O-line coaches Frank Pollack and Bill Callahan divvied their guys up into two groups: Callahan had the Left side of the line (LT, LG, OC) and Pollack took the right (OC, RG, RT). They started off with basic zone blocking principles: getting off at the snap and directing a defender in a given direction:
Continue reading...
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