Hitchens over McClain?

[cowboyschmps3]

Saw on rotoworld he took all first reps in practice although I think it was probably for day he missed practice.

 

[waving monkey]

I can't imagine Hitchens over McClain but there we go with that wasted fourth round pick.

 

[TheCount]

They've been taking it slow with McClain, so could be that they are just resting him. I don't think there's a doubt the staff is rooting for McClain.

 

[TheDude]

I can't imagine Hitchens over McClain but there we go with that wasted fourth round pick.

Well who else is there if Holloman and McClain aren't playing? Orie Lemon?

 

[Idgit]

Hitchens is likely to be getting the work on Saturday, so he's getting the snaps now.

 

[MWH1967]

^^^^ sounds right..you scared me for a moment.

 

[speedkilz88]

In the immediate wake of Lee’s injury, it was rookie Anthony Hitchens, a weak side linebacker from Iowa, who was tabbed to man the middle while Justin Durant recovered from injury.

“We felt like, given our team on draft day, he has a chance to be a Mike linebacker because of his physical traits,” Garrett said. “We did that and he did that a lot through the spring, and I think he played some Will in the spring and mostly Mike.”

Hitchens had been a Will throughout training camp as Durant and McClain split reps, but he re-joined the conversation at Mike on Thursday when he took first-team snaps. It was his first time running with the first-team since before training camp.

“It’s a big opportunity, mentally and physically, to see where I stand,” he said. “It’s a lot different pace from the ones to the twos in practice. It’s a big opportunity for me, I’m just trying to make the most of it.”

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...n-Injury/eeb052a5-6e0e-4243-956d-3cb189a3c80b

“Yesterday he had a really good day at practice,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “He stepped up. He ran around. He struck people. He was physical. He looked the guy we drafted. He looked damn good.”

 

[Idgit]

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/a...n-Injury/eeb052a5-6e0e-4243-956d-3cb189a3c80b

Sounds like the team likes this guy. His range. His comprehension. They said on Talking Cowboys this week that he and Durant got into a disagreement about the defensive set, and Eberfluss had to step in to say "the rookie is right." I'll take that, at least.

 

[speedkilz88]

2nd quote came from Tim McMahon article. The timer went off on me.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4732138/hitchens-in-the-mix-at-middle-linebacker

 

[CCBoy]

I like what I have heard you guys posting here. I just don't trust a rookie linebacker to have the head to transition through the shortly arriving maze of scheming and veterans that he will have to encounter. Let him first get up to walking speed, past this crawling stage.

Good kid, good instincts, and a little aggressive with coverage skills. Now he just must grow.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Saw on rotoworld he took all first reps in practice although I think it was probably for day he missed practice.

Key words = in practice. Don't read that much into it. The entire front 7 is very fluid.

 

[honyock]

Cool blurb about Hitchens and Lee...

Hitchens has a heck of a tutor. He spends “as much time as I can” with Lee, who is trying to get the rookie up to speed as quickly as possible in the mental details of playing middle linebacker in this scheme.

“In meetings during camp, he sat right behind me,” Hitchens said. “He was always in my ear. I’m looking this way and I just hear him in the back of my head talking to me. He just gives me a little knowledge here and there.”

 

[waving monkey]

Well who else is there if Holloman and McClain aren't playing? Orie Lemon?

I mean unless McClein is injuried his the starting Mike by all accounts I read

 

[CCBoy]

Good morning, waving monkey. Good to see you about.

 

[TheDude]

I mean unless McClein is injuried his the starting Mike by all accounts I read

Yeah, seems that way...but I guess Hitchens is playing this weekend and not McClain

 

[Bullflop]

Yeah, seems that way...but I guess Hitchens is playing this weekend and not McClain

I think they'll both get their share of the defensive snaps in the Miami game. The staff has been monitoring McClain's activity closely in practice to protect him from ovextending his level of conditioning. His return to readiness is simply a slow and arduous process. It's entirely possible he may not be ready in time for game one vs. San Francisco. He'll be ready when his body indicates the time is right. As badly as the staff wants him manning the MLB position, I'm sure they won't delay using him whenever the time is right.