DMN Blog: Live from Oxnard IV TO Putting on Show

Bizwah

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Sorry about that, folks. We have (hopefully had) some blog server issues.

Nothing exciting has happened yet anyway, unless you count my conversation with Papa Joe Simpson. More on that later today.

Follow the jump and refresh as often as Belo technology will allow ...

5:12 -- Gotta go. Serious action started just as the blog got back up and running. Be back in a bit.

5:13 -- Check that. I'm staying here. Pass game 1-on-1s coming right at me. ... Great separation by Sam Hurd against Anthony Henry on a crossing route. Hurd has been really solid so far. ... Rookie CB Mike Jenkins might have had a pick, but he didn't turn his head in time. The ball clanked off his facemask. ... You won't see this often. Undrafted rookie Mike Bradford beat Terence Newman on a go route. ... You will see this often. T.O. beat Alan Ball on a go route. ... Spectacular pick by Anthony Henry right in front of the fans. He went up over Sam Hurd to snatch the ball out of the air about 40 yards downfield.

5:17 -- Nice jam by Roy Williams on Tony Curtis. Roy deflected the pass. ... Tough session for Terence Newman so far. He got fooled on a double-move by Mike Jefferson and collided with him. Looked like illegal contact. ... Pacman .... er Adam Jones blanketed Danny Amendola on a curl. ... T.O. beat Orlando Scandrick on a post, but he couldn't come up with a one-handed catch on a ball behind him. ... Great adjustment by Patrick Crayton to catch a pass behind him on a go route. ... Nice job by Isaiah Stanback beating Henry on a slant and turning it upfield. .... Miles Austin had a step on Newman on a go route, but Richard Bartel's pass sailed out of bounds.

5:20 -- T.O. toasted Adam Jones on a skinny post, and Tony Romo put the ball on the money. T.O. spiked the ball in the end zone, further whipping the crowd into a frenzy. ... PBU by Dowayne Davis on a curl to Martellus Bennett ... Great comeback route by Patrick Crayton, causing Mike Jenkins to fall to the turf. ... Miles Austin blew by Evan Oglesby with a double-move, but the pass was just past his fingertips. ... Drills over. Hopefully, Archer or Lucky saw what was going on in inside run.

5:26 -- Special teams drills now. ... I've have a full post on this later, but Papa Joe Simpson said Jessica didn't join him on this trip. She'll make a training camp appearance later and plans to go to every game. I'm sure that makes you folks feel better.

5:28 -- Checked in with Archer and Lucky, neither of whom watched inside run. Hey, passing 1-on-1s are a real good show. I'll ask around to see what happened and pay close attention to the big fellas during 11-on-11 stuff.

5:31 -- Working on kick coverage/return. Miles Austin and Isaiah Stanback are the first duo back there as returners. Stanback has potential as a kick returner, but that job could go to one of the Jones boys (Felix or Adam). That means Stanback will probably have to earn his roster spot as a receiver, which could mean holding off Danny Amendola.

5:34 -- Adam Jones is taking his turn at kick returner now. He has had some trouble catching punts -- a sign of rust for a guy who established himself as an elite punt returner -- but catching kickoffs isn't as difficult. ... Felix Jones is also getting some reps at kick returner. ... The Cowboys are wearing full pads, but they aren't hitting in this drill. As a result, you can't really evaluate the return guys.

5:37 -- 11-on-11s about to start. They're coming my way, so I don't have to move. ... First play was pretty strange. Romo took forever to throw the ball, and T.O. stopped his route. The ball bounced between the 3 and 8 on a certain safety's chest, right into T.O.'s hands. ... Sam Hurd made a diving catch on an out route.

:40 -- Diving catch by Jason Witten. Good coverage by Bradie James, so Romo threw it low and away. ... Felix Jones motioned wide right and ran a streak route, sitting down in the soft spot of the Cover 2 zone. He made a leaping grab of Romo's pass in front of FS Pat Watkins. ... First-round pick Mike Jenkins is getting reps with the second team. ... Witten dropped a ball with Kevin Burnett all over him.

5:42 -- TE Martellus Bennett showed his athleticism with a leaping catch on seam route thrown high and to his back shoulder. Believe it or not, the Brad Johnson pass had some zip on it. SS Dowayne Davis was step for step with Bennett. ... Johnson has gone into dumpoff mode now

5:44 -- Greg Ellis lined up like a cornerback, because of a funky formation that split TE Tony Curtis wide left and put the two WRs on the opposite side. Curtis couldn't take advantage of the mismatch, as Ellis jammed him almost to the fence separating the fans from the field. ... T.O. caught a short crossing route that might have turned into a TD. Jason Witten cleared out the safeties by running a skinny post.

5:48 -- Dime secondary: LCB Mike Jenkins, slot Terence Newman, SS Ken Hamlin, FS Pat Watkins, RCB Adam Jones, dimeback/LB Anthony Henry. Kevin Burnett is the linebacker. .... Sam Hurd got between Henry and Hamlin to make a catch across the middle. ... T.O. got wide open behind Watkins for a touchdown. He shook Mike Jenkins with a double-move on the post route.

5:50 -- Isaiah Stanback couldn't come up with a pass that hit him in both hands after a curl route. CB Quincy Butler might have tipped it, but Stanback needs to show that he can make tough catches in traffic. ... Touchdown Tony Curtis caught an out route after Evan Oglesby gambled for a deflection. Curtis would have had one man between him and paydirt. ... Sam Hurd continues to catch everything thrown his way. This was a hook route in front of Mike Jenkins. Hurd is mad that he went down instead of turning upfield after the catch. ... Danny Amendola caught an out route in front of Adam Jones. Nice zip on the on-target pass from Richard Bartel.

5:54 -- Terence Newman had a big lick on RB Keon Lattimore on the last play of 7-on-7s, which aren't supposed to be full contact. Lattimore couldn't come up with a pass behind him on a crossing route, and Newman got a shoulder under the undrafted rookie's pads and put him on his backside. Might be a case of Newman releasing some frustration during a rough practice for him. He better hope Lattimore's big bro (Ray Lewis) doesn't come after him.

5:59 -- They're doing special teams teaching drills now. Nothing competitive. ... The D-line is off on the other field working on technique. I'll have much, much more on the Cowboys' least heralded position group late tonight or early tomorrow. I really like what I've seen from those dudes.

6:07 -- 11-on-11s about to start. They'll be going away from my blog station, so I need to hit the field. I'll update with all the highlights after the post-practice interviews are done. Feel free to discuss any and all Cowboys-related matters amongst yourselves while I'm gone.

6:54 -- NT Jay Ratliff continued to be a disruptive force. He had a sack and recovered a fumbled handoff. He is consistently getting good penetration. Ratliff is getting just enough reps at DE to be ready to play that position. ... Poor undrafted rookie RB Keon Lattimore took another big lick. SS Dowayne Davis, who has a shot at making the team as the fifth safety, put Lattimore on his back on an incompletion across the middle. ... ILB Bradie James, who probably won't play on third downs, has a pretty pass breakup on a seam route to TE Martellus Bennett. James was stride for stride with Bennett and leaped to swat the ball away from the 6-6 former A&M basketball player. ... Jason Witten had another great practice. He ran away from Zach Thomas after catching a short out route. Witten did drop one pass that was slightly behind him. ... Felix Jones had a big gain after bouncing a counter outside. LT Flozell Adams sealed off the edge in impressive fashion. ... OLB DeMarcus Ware provided further evidence that he's much, much more than just a pass rusher. He had great recognition on a screen to Marion Barber and would have made the stop near the line of scrimmage. ... The false-start bug hit the left guards. Starter Kyle Kosier and backup James Marten both had one. ... CB Alan Ball and third-string LB Bobby Carpenter unloaded on Alonzo Coleman by the sideline, sending the RB flying into the media members kneeling inside the fence. ... QB Richard Bartel has a strong arm, but he needs a lot of work reading defenses and making decisions. He threw one pass across the middle that Terence Newman almost picked off, and he almost got Danny Amendola killed by throwing a high pass in Ken Hamlin's neighborhood. ... Wade Phillips just announced that T.O. got the "practice game ball."
 

Bizwah

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Like it that our WRs seem to be playing well.

Sounds like Austin gets open at will. But from what I've read, he either is under or overthrown most of the time. I wonder if he's still running routes poorly, or if he's difficult to judge how fast he gets to where he's supposed to go.

Hurd appears to be having a good camp. And it's nice to read that Stanback had a play or two.
 

Bizwah

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IMO, we need to do a lot of work on Kick Coverage.
 

Seven

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i just don't know how #81 toasts CB's. He ain't that fast!! He does it consistently, tho.

Amendola : SELL that curl route. Sell it!!
 

Nav22

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Hey Bizwah, can you provide the link? Thanks in advance.
 

Bizwah

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Nav22;2161792 said:
Hey Bizwah, can you provide the link? Thanks in advance.

http://cowboysblog.***BANNED-URL***/archives/2008/07/live-from-oxnard-iv-delayed-by-technical.html

Refresh, refresh, refresh.

It's updated often.
 

Seven

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Bizwah;2161789 said:
IMO, we need to do a lot of work on Kick Coverage.


:hammer: ...............returns too. Is this a new ST coach?
 

Bizwah

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I'll update the original post as often as I can.
 

Bizwah

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Love to read that Felix Jones is being used as a receiver.
 

Seven

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Bizwah;2161798 said:
I'll update the original post as often as I can.

Appreciate that, Biz...............:yourock:
 

Rampage

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5:44 -- Greg Ellis lined up like a cornerback, because of a funky formation that split TE Tony Curtis wide left and put the two WRs on the opposite side. Curtis couldn't take advantage of the mismatch, as Ellis jammed him almost to the fence separating the fans from the field. ... T.O. caught a short crossing route that might have turned into a TD. Jason Witten cleared out the safeties by running a skinny post.

these defenses should be thrown out along with the ones that split Roy out wide 1 on 1 against a TE.
 

Bizwah

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Rampage;2161820 said:
5:44 -- Greg Ellis lined up like a cornerback, because of a funky formation that split TE Tony Curtis wide left and put the two WRs on the opposite side. Curtis couldn't take advantage of the mismatch, as Ellis jammed him almost to the fence separating the fans from the field. ... T.O. caught a short crossing route that might have turned into a TD. Jason Witten cleared out the safeties by running a skinny post.

these defenses should be thrown out along with the ones that split Roy out wide 1 on 1 against a TE.

I don't know....I liked hearing how he jammed Curtis almost to the fence.
 

Bizwah

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I like how that dime package looks, but it looks as if our offense it chewin em up and spittin em out.
 

theogt

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Rampage;2161820 said:
5:44 -- Greg Ellis lined up like a cornerback, because of a funky formation that split TE Tony Curtis wide left and put the two WRs on the opposite side. Curtis couldn't take advantage of the mismatch, as Ellis jammed him almost to the fence separating the fans from the field. ... T.O. caught a short crossing route that might have turned into a TD. Jason Witten cleared out the safeties by running a skinny post.

these defenses should be thrown out along with the ones that split Roy out wide 1 on 1 against a TE.
That would be impossible. Or just really dumb.
 

Bizwah

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CrazyCowboy;2161834 said:
sounds like they are doing great.

Who do you mean by "they"?

The WRs appear to be playing well.....but I guess they have an advantage in 7 on 7.

11 on 11 appears to be better for offense as well. Yesterday, the defense really got the better of the offense.
 

Rampage

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theogt;2161831 said:
That would be impossible. Or just really dumb.
well it's pretty dumb letting them split Ellis and Roy out 1 on 1 with wrs and tightends.
 

theogt

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Rampage;2161872 said:
well it's pretty dumb letting them split Ellis and Roy out 1 on 1 with wrs and tightends.
That's not dumb at all. We do run a 3-4 after all. That's going to happen.
 

Bizwah

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theogt;2161893 said:
That's not dumb at all. We do run a 3-4 after all. That's going to happen.

This is true.

We line up on defense, but the offense is going to motion/line up to get the matchups they want.

Sometimes it happens.

I used to hate it watching us play San Fran. They would come out in their base package....we'd come out in our base defense...they'd motion out a TE or RB wide, then motion Jerry Rice in the slot.

We'd then have to cover Rice with a safety or LB.

Ugly.
 
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