Hill: 10 Thoughts from Wednesday’s Cowboys practice

[RS12]

1.Quarterback Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten were given the day off. That put Brandon Weeden in charge of the first team offense. It was check down city all day as Weeden made most of his completions on underneath routes. Weeden also had the embarrassing play of the day when a pass he tried to throw away in the ground bounced off a defenders foot and was picked off by defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford.

2. The Cowboys were already thin at running back with Darren McFadden on the physically unable to perform list. Lance Dunbar left midway through practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury. The Cowboys don’t think it’s serious but it’s an example of how delicate the situation is at running back. Staying healthy is a factor for both McFadden and Dunbar.

3. With Dunbar out, McFadden out and no trust in inexperienced backups Lache Seastrunk and Gus Johnson, fullback Tyler Clutts took first-team snaps as the third-down back behind Randle in practice. The Cowboys needed someone who knew the blocking assignments in the passing game.

4. Rookie defensive Ryan Russell easily beat tackle Darrion Weems in a compete drill before the entire team. Good for Russell but it’s another example that the Cowboys’ swing tackle, who plays behind starters Tyron Smith and Doug Free, may not be on the roster.


Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports...orner-blog/article30195741.html#storylink=cpy

 

[RS12]

That's not to say that the team eradicated the sloppiness that Garrett criticized them for after the first couple of practices. The primary reason for this, to my mind, was Romo's absence. With Number Nine of the sidelines, the other quarterbacks move up one unit in rank. Brandon Weeden, working with the first team, struggled. Dustin Vaughan, promoted to second team, struggled. Jameil Showers, now the third team signal caller...you guessed, it: struggled. In the red zone work, for example, the first two units failed to gain so much as a first down; both settled for Dan Bailey field goals (on a day when the team was resting Bailey's leg, so field goals equated to snaps to the holder).

The offensive struggles continued in the second "best-on-best" session, that concluded the second competitive period. One example: rookie defensive end Ryan Russell schooled Darrion Weems, beating him around the edge with ease. Russell is one player who seems to have come on in the last couple of days. Earlier in camp, he looked big and powerful, yet heavy-footed. The last couple of sessions, however, he has been exhibiting more foot quickness and appears to be on the come. Three days ago, I thought Russell would be hard pressed to make the team; while this may still be true, he's much more likely to give the coaches a long, difficult decision.

Speaking of young guys, Byron Jones might have had his best practice thus far. He was active, and twice fought Dez Bryant to a stand-still. Recently, he told reporters that he needed to play with more physicality, with a stronger punch. Since then, he has been drilling this in earnest; on one play, he quickly got his hands up on Devin Street's chest (well within the legal limit), shocking him and preventing him from getting into his route. Later, however, Street repaid him, with what was probably the play of the day, a terrific, elevated grab in the corner of the end zone with a game Jones draped all over him.

Ironically, Street was injured on the play - albeit nor severely, if reports are to be believed. He was joined on the injury rolls by Chris Whaley, Terrell McClain (knee), and Lance Dunbar (ankle)

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2015...amp-practice-summary-an-afternoon-of-remedial

 

[CowboyStar88]

Why can't we get a decent backup QB? Weeden isn't going to cut it. The guy is afraid to throw the ball.

 

[JDSmith]

I think that any time you end up with a QB drafted by Cleveland, you screwed the pooch. If there is any team that is truly gifted at either finding the wrong QB or ruining the guy once he gets there, it's the Browns. They are a QB kiss of death.

 

[big dog cowboy]

4. Rookie defensive Ryan Russell easily beat tackle Darrion Weems in a compete drill before the entire team. Good for Russell but it’s another example that the Cowboys’ swing tackle, who plays behind starters Tyron Smith and Doug Free, may not be on the roster.

According to NFLN Weems has been having a good camp so far. We'll see in preseason.

 

[bodi]

Russell surprised me on how big he looked

 

[Bullflop]

Clarence Hill mentions doubts if Weems will make the final cuts. I'm not too sure I trust him to arrive at that conclusion, especially seeing as how Weems has seemingly drawn good reports from most everyone else. Anyhow, I would hope he wouldn't just arrive at that conclusion due to having one bad day vs. Ryan Russell. Maybe it's merely a good sign that Russell is developing and coming along admirably. Time will tell, I suppose.

 

[DogFace]

Weeden seems horrible.

 

[Stash]

Weeden seems horrible.

It seems like after Romo, they all are. Every time Weeden or Vaughn are actually asked to do something, they come up short.

 

[Longboysfan]

I wonder what they thought of Romo at the same time in his development vs Vaughn.
They should have Romo talking to him about what he sees.

 

[visionary]

Why can't we get a decent backup QB? Weeden isn't going to cut it. The guy is afraid to throw the ball.

As much as many have justifiably praised our FO for recent good FA and draft moves they are too reactive for my liking

It took years of beatings for Romo and a pathetic running game before we went OL

It took last years pathetic performance in the playoffs for them to wake up to DL needs

Both these issues were obvious for years to even fans before they were finally addressed

This off season many of us have been saying that RB and back up QB need to be addressed but the FO just buries its collective head in sand and hopes that things will automatically fix themselves

It seems that issues really need to smack them in the face and be "the reason for losing" before they get addressed

 

[PhillyCowboysFan]

Clarence Hill mentions doubts if Weems will make the final cuts. I'm not too sure I trust him to arrive at that conclusion, especially seeing as how Weems has seemingly drawn good reports from most everyone else. Anyhow, I would hope he wouldn't just arrive at that conclusion due to having one bad day vs. Ryan Russell. Maybe it's merely a good sign that Russell is developing and coming along admirably. Time will tell, I suppose.

Everything I have heard and read about Weems has been positive. One bad play and now he's not making the team. SMDH!

Listening to "Talking Cowboys" from Wednesday's show, Nate even said a has played well.

 

[black label]

 

[mattjames2010]

As much as many have justifiably praised our FO for recent good FA and draft moves they are too reactive for my liking

It took years of beatings for Romo and a pathetic running game before we went OL

It took last years pathetic performance in the playoffs for them to wake up to DL needs

Both these issues were obvious for years to even fans before they were finally addressed

This off season many of us have been saying that RB and back up QB need to be addressed but the FO just buries its collective head in sand and hopes that things will automatically fix themselves

It seems that issues really need to smack them in the face and be "the reason for losing" before they get addressed

It "took years"? Our O-line was great in 2007, it was still really good in 2008, and started to show it's decline in 2009. Our rebuilding started in 2011 with Tyron Smith. So, I'm a little unsure where this "It took years of beatings for Romo" comes from. You can't completely rebuild an offensive line in a single draft. Now you can talk priority if you'd like, we should have drafted the offensive line when the offensive line was aging - whatever, but we were Super Bowl favorites from 2007-2010 by some and we had holes at other areas of our team. We've done a better job noticing how important the offensive line is than most teams in this league. There is nothing "reactive" about it, we addressed the O-line quite fast and stuck with it for the past 5 years and now have one of the best offensive lines in the league.

 

[mattjames2010]

But as for these practice observations, why Weeden is still here is beyond me. It's one thing to have a bad practice, but we've seen Weeden in game - he's awful. He shouldn't be a backup to anyone. He shouldn't be in the league, he's old and still has very little NFL experience, he's a nobody.

There was a decent list of backup QBs during the start of FA that could have replaced Weeden.

 

[Staubacher]

Weeden seems horrible.

He kept leaving the pocket and scrambling for yards in the team drills. LOL nobody was even chasing him they were like come back to the huddle.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

It "took years"? Our O-line was great in 2007, it was still really good in 2008, and started to show it's decline in 2009. is tur rebuilding started in 2011 with Tyron Smith. So, I'm a little unsure where this "It took years of beatings for Romo" comes from. You can't completely rebuild an offensive line in a single draft. Now you can talk priority if you'd like, we should have drafted the offensive line when the offensive line was aging - whatever, but we were Super Bowl favorites from 2007-2010 by some and we had holes at other areas of our team. We've done a better job noticing how important the offensive line is than most teams in this league. There is nothing "reactive" about it, we addressed the O-line quite fast and stuck with it for the past 5 years and now have one of the best offensive lines in the league.

Revisionist history,,,, those OLs peaked at slightly better than the league average but got whipped by playoff caliber DLs, and that "peak" only lasted a couple of years. This is the first time they've had a playoff quality OL in ages.

 

[waving monkey]

It "took years"? Our O-line was great in 2007, it was still really good in 2008, and started to show it's decline in 2009. Our rebuilding started in 2011 with Tyron Smith. So, I'm a little unsure where this "It took years of beatings for Romo" comes from. You can't completely rebuild an offensive line in a single draft. Now you can talk priority if you'd like, we should have drafted the offensive line when the offensive line was aging - whatever, but we were Super Bowl favorites from 2007-2010 by some and we had holes at other areas of our team. We've done a better job noticing how important the offensive line is than most teams in this league. There is nothing "reactive" about it, we addressed the O-line quite fast and stuck with it for the past 5 years and now have one of the best offensive lines in the league.

Your right but some of these guys have already made up their minds

 

[mattjames2010]

Revisionist history,,,, those OLs peaked at slightly better than the league average but got whipped by playoff caliber DLs, and that "peak" only lasted a couple of years. This is the first time they've had a playoff quality OL in ages.

It's not revisionist history at all, it's fact. Our offensive line was really good in 2007 and 2008, they started to decline in 2009. In the 2010 draft we got Dez Bryant early, we changed up the coaching staff, and our offensive line has been a priority since.

It didn't take us a decade to address our offensive line problems. If you believe we should have addressed it in the 2009 (We all know that fiasco) or 2010 draft (Again, we got both Bryant and Lee that year), fine. But let's not exaggerate here.

 

[Thefeelofcotton]

All I keep hearing about Vaughn (pre TC) is how good he has looked and he will be the 3rd QB on the roster etc. etc. but now that the pads are on and he has to throw, he's struggling. This is why I have said he won't make the team and is NOT the future of the Cowboys. I say we draft a replacement in the next two years and let him have a year or two to sit and learn.