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Cowboys-Raiders practice notes
• The Cowboys offensive line looks pretty beastly and should among the best in the league. Tyron Smith is a mountain, Doug Free was winning one-on-one battles in drills against the Raiders. Travis Frederick continues to look like an inspired pick. It was hardly unusual to see a Raiders defensive lineman toppled to the ground when they went one-on-one, though Raiders rookie Khalil Mack was one of the rare Oakland players who shined, managing to beat Smith once and get the huge left tackle off balance. Overall, the Cowboys are going to be able to pound teams on the ground, and DeMarco Murray -- again, should he stay healthy -- looks like he is ready for a monster season. There were no shortage of explosive runs out of the joint practice.
• Romo said that ideally, with the offensive line looking so good, he hopes the Cowboys can get tight end Jason Witten out in space more and not have to use as much to help pass protect. The Cowboys were running an abundance of screens as well, and seem to be favoring that element more.
• The Cowboys are excited by the progress being made by Anthony Spencer, who will be vital in the pass rush, and hope he can come off the PUP list shortly. "He's much ahead of where I thought he would be," Jones said. Overall, there isn't a whole lot to like about this Dallas defense, and I'm not sure it will be an improvement over last season's awful showing without Sean Lee and DeMarcus Ware. It lacks for individual brilliance and last year, in the Tampa-2 scheme, they couldn't play well collectively as a unit, either. Could be a long year on that side of the ball.
• Both teams were very impressed by getting the chance to talk some to Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Tommy Lasorda, who were among the many bigwigs rounding the sidelines here.
More: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...-after-back-surgery-but-not-close-to-old-self
• The Cowboys offensive line looks pretty beastly and should among the best in the league. Tyron Smith is a mountain, Doug Free was winning one-on-one battles in drills against the Raiders. Travis Frederick continues to look like an inspired pick. It was hardly unusual to see a Raiders defensive lineman toppled to the ground when they went one-on-one, though Raiders rookie Khalil Mack was one of the rare Oakland players who shined, managing to beat Smith once and get the huge left tackle off balance. Overall, the Cowboys are going to be able to pound teams on the ground, and DeMarco Murray -- again, should he stay healthy -- looks like he is ready for a monster season. There were no shortage of explosive runs out of the joint practice.
• Romo said that ideally, with the offensive line looking so good, he hopes the Cowboys can get tight end Jason Witten out in space more and not have to use as much to help pass protect. The Cowboys were running an abundance of screens as well, and seem to be favoring that element more.
• The Cowboys are excited by the progress being made by Anthony Spencer, who will be vital in the pass rush, and hope he can come off the PUP list shortly. "He's much ahead of where I thought he would be," Jones said. Overall, there isn't a whole lot to like about this Dallas defense, and I'm not sure it will be an improvement over last season's awful showing without Sean Lee and DeMarcus Ware. It lacks for individual brilliance and last year, in the Tampa-2 scheme, they couldn't play well collectively as a unit, either. Could be a long year on that side of the ball.
• Both teams were very impressed by getting the chance to talk some to Hall of Famers Magic Johnson and Tommy Lasorda, who were among the many bigwigs rounding the sidelines here.
More: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...-after-back-surgery-but-not-close-to-old-self
