Free practicing at...RG

[ScipioCowboy]

Yup, hopefully we still have a starting QB too. LOL.

My take: If Romo gets pulled from the game earlier than you would expect in a dress rehearsal, the Cowboys have problems.

 

[dogberry]

If there is another Minnesota debacle, and we have two tackles go down what then?

I'm being an old worry wart but...

 

[cowboys2233]

My take: If Romo gets pulled from the game earlier than you would expect in a dress rehearsal, the Cowboys have problems.

Agreed, that could be very telling. But I think we'll all know sooner rather than later. If he takes a couple of sacks in a jail break kind of setting, they would be insane not to pull him immediately. We've still got a couple of weeks to work on the offensive line but if Romo goes down? It's over.

 

[Idgit]

Eh, they could plug in anybody, doesn't mean they'll be any good at it. Seriously, how much good to they really think Free would be to them at RG after putting him there for a single practice? This sounds like a colossal waste of time to me.

Well...they're probably not giving him a single practice to see if they ever want to use him in a game. They're giving him the practice to see if it makes sense to use it as a contingency plan at all. If they think it's something they might do on game day, I'm sure they'll give him more reps over time. Either way, they're just taking a look at a possible personnel grouping. This is nothing for people to react negatively to.

In fact, this is the sort of thing that gets any OL debate going around here at all. It's not the obvious stuff, like the fact that RG is currently our weakest link, or that we should be keeping our eyes open at that spot, that gets the debate. It's the overreactions that bring out less excitable posters in threads like this one, who feel like the overreactions eventually get extreme enough that they have to say something.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Two weeks until the season starts and they have no clue who will be playing where on the OL and have come to the conclusion that their backups are not very good.

How in the world did you come to that conclusion?

 

[Idgit]

If there is another Minnesota debacle, and we have two tackles go down what then?

I'm being an old worry wart but...

It's actually a very valid concern. OT depth is a bigger issue than OG depth in my book. You can plug in a street FA at OG and survive if you have to. Losing more than one tackle means changing everything you want to do offensively. I'm praying Demestress Bell can lose weight and play like he did in BUF here in this system. We've had good health at OT for a few years now, but that could all change opening night, and we'd be scrambling.

 

[burmafrd]

Probably wanted to see just how bad Free would suck at guard

 

[Nirvana]

The Cowboys are hoping that guard Ron Leary, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last Friday, is back for the season opener against the Giants on Sept. 8.

But there are no guarantees and they need an alternate plan in place, which is why Free will get snaps at guard against the Bengals Saturday.

"It's no secret we are looking at all our options," Jones said. "We are hoping for Leary and feel good about him. But we don't know. We want to get the best five on the field."

The Cowboys have been working rookie center Travis Frederick at guard. But they don't like the option of using Phil Costa at center and Frederick at guard.

"Frederick is doing so well at center and he's a rookie, we don't want to move him," Jones said.

Jones said this option is contingent on how well Parnell plays at tackle after missing much of training camp with a hamstring. He will be making his preseason debut against the Bengals on Saturday.

Clarence Hill

Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.co...ere-trying-to-find-best-fi.html#storylink=cpy

 

[BlindFaith]

Garrett just praised Costa as their back up at C and G. I think this look with Free at RG is for 45 man roster decisions, not 53. This look would allow them to only bring 7 to game day. If Fred were to get injured in a game, Costa could come in. If one of the tackles, Parnell. If one or both of the guards, Costa/Free could be plugged in.

^^^This^^^

 

[Sasquatch]

How the pessimist in me is feeling.

 

[visionary]

http://t2.***NOT-ALLOWED***/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ1dmvSshB2ZfeL50J5GMzTsRWD4G-stEtdobCYKlGqqMsz6hGI

http://t1.***NOT-ALLOWED***/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTxWr_DBkgtcrI16cC4mVIkj6Fnow1c6FQpKf3qLdSt10es49nk4A

all is well
move along

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Read more here: http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.co...ere-trying-to-find-best-fi.html#storylink=cpy

Yay Hill is filling in the gaps with BS rather than doing his job and trying to find out something definitively.

 

[FiveRings]

I let this sink in before making a quick post. Firstly, I wish such a big deal wasn't made out of this, I got an update on my phone for crying out loud, if this is just tinkering around and getting some faces familiar with different positions then fine, but it was just about trending on Twitter. Secondly, I don't have much of a problem with this move, it's just that it should have been done at the onset of camp. We're nearing the point where we should have a set five lineman to run out there and call our 1's, if they're serious about this, it's the wrong time to start trying it.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

Im sure they are just practicing things for emergency situations.

Doug Free would get drove back into Romo consistently as a guard. No chance he ever plays there unless it's an emergency.

Question....have you seen Free at guard to make this conclusion?

Listen I think they are just playing around with things to have some flexibility for gameday, but the point of the matter is why not try it out. Should they not try it out as to not give the storm of media and internet gurus something to talk about...yeah right. Can Free be better than Berny there, well he has better feet thats for sure, why not try it cause I believe Parnell is better than Berny anyway as a linemen.

Try it, see what happens, its practice man.......its PRACTICE......not a game, not a game, PRACTICE man.

 

[cowboys2233]

Question....have you seen Free at guard to make this conclusion?

Listen I think they are just playing around with things to have some flexibility for gameday, but the point of the matter is why not try it out. Should they not try it out as to not give the storm of media and internet gurus something to talk about...yeah right. Can Free be better than Berny there, well he has better feet thats for sure, why not try it cause I believe Parnell is better than Berny anyway as a linemen.

Try it, see what happens, its practice man.......its PRACTICE......not a game, not a game, PRACTICE man.

Why not try it out? Because you can't tell anything from one practice. Because he needs all the practice he can get at RT. Because this team should work on its cohesiveness with guys playing at the positions they're going to play at, not the positions they might play at should something go wrong. But mostly, because you can't gain any knowledge from one practice. What if Free looks horrible at the position? So what? He was just put there. Might he be better if given more of a chance to familiarize himself with the position? Maybe, maybe not. What if he looks good? So what, are you going to trust what you saw in a single practice? Worthless and a waste of time.

 

[Deep_Freeze]

Why not try it out? Because you can't tell anything from one practice. Because he needs all the practice he can get at RT. Because this team should work on its cohesiveness with guys playing at the positions they're going to play at, not the positions they might play at should something go wrong. But mostly, because you can't gain any knowledge from one practice. What if Free looks horrible at the position? So what? He was just put there. Might he be better if given more of a chance to familiarize himself with the position? Maybe, maybe not. What if he looks good? So what, are you going to trust what you saw in a single practice? Worthless and a waste of time.

I have seen nothing saying this is being done for just one practice. Not only that, for some position flexibility, they really don't have to see him long to know if he can do it or not. We tried Arkin at center last year when he was nowhere near ready, trying out Free at G is nowhere near as bad as Arkin was at center last year.

Would Smith-Leary-Fred-Berny-Free be better than Smith-Leary-Fred-Free-Parnell.......I really think its a toss up, of course I think Berny is terrible and the weakest link on this line this year by far, so I might be tainted in the fact that I wish he would fall in a black hole with all his brain farts and whiffs.

 

[bigdrulez3141]

To me, this is nothing but a positive. Before training camp and parnells injury, I saw numerous people predicting that
Parnell would start at RT. Free has been playing well so if the coaches think Parnell would be an upgrade there and Free turns out to be a better option than Arkin and Berny at RG how can this be negative? Even if they go back to what we have been doing, this is a vastly improved o line with Fred, Leary, and an improved Free or Parnell. Even Arkin has been solid. This does not make me worry at all.

 

[fatboygixxer]

Why not try it out? Because you can't tell anything from one practice. Because he needs all the practice he can get at RT. Because this team should work on its cohesiveness with guys playing at the positions they're going to play at, not the positions they might play at should something go wrong. But mostly, because you can't gain any knowledge from one practice. What if Free looks horrible at the position? So what? He was just put there. Might he be better if given more of a chance to familiarize himself with the position? Maybe, maybe not. What if he looks good? So what, are you going to trust what you saw in a single practice? Worthless and a waste of time.

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but after reading your post it would be nice to know if you have any kind of coaching background. Reading that our coaching staff is doing everything wrong regarding our depth situation would have alot more validity if I knew where it was coming from. Lately it just seems like everyone here knows more than our coaching staff..

 

[dboyz]

I see this as only positive. Perhaps they are tinkering for contingencies. Makes sense.

Or, who knows, perhaps they are trying to get their best players on the field. From all accounts Doug Free has had a good camp. A lot of us had high hopes for Parnell who has the raw physical ability to be a good player. Unfortunately he has been injured, so they couldn't try this until now. I imagine a line of Tyron Smith - Ron Leary - Travis Frederick - Doug Free - Jeremy Parnell with everyone playing up to their potential could be formidable. Of course that is a big if, but why not try things like this that could make us better. I'm glad the coaching staff is looking closely at these things.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

michael winicki assures me that arkin is great,i dont trust tim macmahon on this.

Got a linky to share?

I mean I wouldn't want others to think you were just spouting off (as usual).