LIVE Press Conference
Watch LIVE as Jason Garrett speaks to the media from Cowboys Training Camp in Oxnard, CA.
Players doing a good job understanding what we want from a tempo standpoint (playing in shells last two days). We've had some really good work since we started camp and virtually all those days were in full pads.
It's been aggressive, physical, with a high tempo to everything we do. Now you take those pads off and go into a different mode, it's critical to maintain that, in the conditions you're in. I think our team understands that and did a good job practicing the right way the last couple days.
Garrett talks about getting to know Niners coach Jim Tomsula in NFLE, he went over there to do some games as an analyst for Fox. Garrett went over there four straight years and developed a friendship with Tomsula, could tell he was a good coach, players responded so well to him. It was fun watching him coach and getting to know him.
Met again when Garrett was coaching in Miami and they try to catch up as much as possible since Tomsula has been with San Francisco. He's a heck of a good football coach and a really good person.
Don't really know yet what Darren McFadden will do in game Sunday, he's had some good days of practice the last three days, he looks good and is getting better and better.
We haven't really discussed the playing substitution pattern for any of our guys.
I think the sequence of getting guys ready is probably pretty consistent with what's it been for a long time in this league. We value these pre-season games and want to use them to get our team ready, but also, as best we can, to evaluate some of the new guys and try to make some decisions as to who is going to be on our team.
I don't think my thoughts, and our thoughts, have changed very much on that at all (opinion on what it takes for a player to get ready for the regular season in terms of pre-season action).
Done a very good job in the last week improving our football team.
We got to some precarious situations with some injuries at some different spots, and we had some guys really doing yeoman's work to help us get through practice and through a game. It feels better to have a full compliment of guys at most of our positions right now.
I think the running back position was upgraded here in the last week. Those guys have practiced well and we're looking forward to seeing those guys in some action on Sunday against S.F.
As much as anything else, we want to see Kyle Wilber in the middle. Like we talked about the other day, he demonstrated that he can be such a versatile player, he's been a good special teams player since he's been here. He's played OLB in a 3-4, DE with his hand on the ground, he's played off the ball LB in the 4-3, he's played in Nickel situations as a rusher and an off the ball guy. I think he's demonstrated that he can be a versatile guy and can help us in a lot of different ways.
We're banged up at LB right now, so wanted to give him a chance to work inside and I think he's responded well to that work.
I don't know that you describe it as tough (moving Wilber around so much) you're always, as a coaching staff, trying to find the best place for guys and he's someone we like a lot. Whenever we've given him opportunities, both as a defensive player and in the kicking game, he's very productive.
So you're trying to find the right spot for him, in the scheme that you're playing, but you're also trying to find the right spot for your team as you work through the different issues. He's been a guy we've been able to plug in a lot of different spots on short notice and he typically responds well.
Joseph Randle is definitely day to day, best to describe it as an aggravation of the oblique strain.
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