Vela: 7/31 Evening Practice Report

[austintodallas]

Evening Practice Report, Monday, July 31st

By Rafael Vela

Trey returns with a meaty account of Monday’s evening practice:
Here are some of my observations and opinions.

Jason Witten is even more dominating then he has been the last two seasons. The defense could not cover him. He was open almost every play. He caught long passes in every drill and scrimmage; three times making it to the end zone.

Anthony Fasano has great hands. He did not get great separation, but he made three difficult catches. A diving one-hand grab of a badly over thrown ball earned load cheers from the crowd. He also did a good job lead blocking on running plays.

Ahmad Merritt is no longer with the team, hence there were a lot less dropped passes.

Pat Watkins played very well, but he dropped two interceptions and did not perform well in the hands drill. Justin Beriault was not on the field.

Terence Newman practices like he is playing in a playoff game. He is very intense. He also took time to work with some of the younger defensive backs.

The running game did better. They had a number of runs of over five yards and a few ten yarders. Marion Barber did particularly well. Tyson Thompson ran with much more control then he did last camp, but he has yet to break a long one like he regularly did last year.

Drew Bledsoe has been accurate. Of the three backu (article cuts off here)

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Good stuff. Thanks.

All this optimism must be driving the bbguns of the world nuts!

 

[CrazyCowboy]

another nice report...thanks

 

[Vintage]

Glad to read that Newman still has the 'fire in his belly.' Not that I doubted him....but I didn't want him to get complacent with his play last year.

As far as Watkins' hands....that's really not too big of a deal. I'd rather have a guy who is constantly around the ball, defending passes and doing his job...the INT's will come. As long as he continues to be around the ball...its a good sign.

Glad to hear Witten is carving up our defense, for three reasons. One, it means our offense is starting to pick it up and Witten is just getting better. Secondly, our defense isn't exactly poor...so if our offense can do it against what should be a good defense, its a sign of good things. Third, it gives our defense some practice against elite TE's and how to better defend them. Our division is pretty stacked at TE in terms of talent (Cooley, Shockey, Smith)

 

[VACowboy]

Witten is the man, my favorite current Cowboy.

 

[ravidubey]

Our division is pretty stacked at TE in terms of talent (Cooley, Shockey, Smith)

Alge Crumpler is the best we'll face all year; he's every bit as good as Witten, maybe even better. Dallas Clark also doesn't suck.

But I'm not impressed with Cooley or Smith as I feel they do not create matchup problems but benefit more from their offense itself. JMO.

Thankfully we won't have to face Gates and Gonzo unless it's in the Superbowl.

 

[dargonking999]

Here's the fuill version

Evening Practice Report, Monday, July 31st
By Trey 14 Comments Here are some of my observations and opinions.

Jason Witten is even more dominating then he has been the last two seasons. The defense could not cover him. He was open almost every play. He caught long passes in every drill and scrimmage; three times making it to the end zone.

Anthony Fasano has great hands. He did not get great separation, but he made three difficult catches. A diving one-hand grab of a badly over thrown ball earned load cheers from the crowd. He also did a good job lead blocking on running plays.

Ahmad Merritt is no longer with the team, hence there were a lot less dropped passes.

Pat Watkins played very well, but he dropped two interceptions and did not perform well in the hands drill. Justin Beriault was not on the field.

Terence Newman practices like he is playing in a playoff game. He is very intense. He also took time to work with some of the younger defensive backs.

The running game did better. They had a number of runs of over five yards and a few ten yarders. Marion Barber did particularly well. Tyson Thompson ran with much more control then he did last camp, but he has yet to break a long one like he regularly did last year.

Drew Bledsoe has been accurate. Of the three backup QB, Drew Henson was the most accurate. Tony Romo through a number of ugly passes, but also threw a few nice touch passes. Jeff Mroz over threw bad enough that fans caught one of his balls. He will not beat out either of the other players.

Rob Pettiti did very well in pass protect drills and on runs to his side. He whiffed a couple of times when blocking on the back side of the run. He still has a hard time getting to a linebacker in space.

Twice Kyle Kosier was able to pull and seal off the outside linebacker. Both times it resulted in a nice run.

Greg Ellis played LB in every set except the dime defense. (They did not practice nickel with the linemen while I was there) He struggled today as a linebacker. He got beaten a few times on pass routes and he did not beat the offensive tackles when rushing from a standing position. On one play Ellis got isolated on Witten on a crossing pattern and it was not even close. Witten was fifteen yards up field before the safety got to him.

Terrell Owens scored his mandatory two touchdowns despite seeing a few double teams. One fun play he was lined up outside with Lenny Williams covering him. Lenny decided to jam him hard. Owens got away from the jam after a second and Bledsoe drop a touch pass for six. They also had Owens run a few quick inside slants when the defender backed off. On another play Owens was lined up on Aaron Glenn who he beat on Saturday and Sunday. Glenn grabbed him at the line of scrimmage and held onto him. The play went the other way, but it was obvious pass interference. The two of them laughed about it after the play.

Aaron Glenn had a better practice then either practice on Saturday.

Terry Glenn was a little quite after great practices on the weekend.

Bradie James broke up a few running plays with a quick burst in the middle of the line. He popped Tyson Thompson pretty hard on one play. Since they are not supposed to be hitting RB yet, he said sorry and scooped him up off the turf.

Demarcus Ware did well in pass coverage, but did not get to the quarterback in the pass rush drills or in the scrimmage. He was stonewalled by Pat McQuistan on two plays.

Over all the pass rush was ineffective. I am not qualified to determine if that is because the pass rush was poor or if the pass protection was superb. The defense made a few plays in the pass rush drills, but the qb was able to get away and make the throws. The only play that looked like a sack was Junior Glymph #53 beat Flozell Adams to the outside.

Bobby Carpenter has a nice shoulder dip move that he used to get by blockers on a couple of blitzes.

Jason Ferguson looks improved over last year. He is clearly the best interior lineman this year. Samuel Taulealea is not quick, but he is very strong. He managed to push back both guards and centers almost every play. Even Andre Gurode gave up a lot of ground to him. He does not look like he is the 340 lb that the guide list him. He must have lost some weight. Jay Ratliff created a little havoc when they only rushed three.

Cantry, Hatcher, Montavious and Johnson did not do much in the drills.

There were a few classic Parcells moments.

In the scrimmage, on 4th down Parcells had Romo come out and give a hard count trying to draw the defense off sides. It did not work so they walked off. That was the play! Then on 2nd down in the next series Beldsoe got the defense offsides with a hard count of his own. Two LB blitzed up the middle a bit early. Next play Witten gets a long play.

There was a scuffle between Junior Glymph and Sean Ryan. Parcells made the whole team run to the fence and back.

Then near the end of practice Marion Barber caught a pass and ran for a dozen yards. Parcells came on the field and started screaming at him for how he was carrying the football.

 

[dougonthebench]

I do,great observations.

 

[boysfanindc]

Twice Kyle Kosier was able to pull and seal off the outside linebacker. Both times it resulted in a nice run.

Besides the economics of the LA situation, this is what they brought him here to do IMO.

LA could not play in space or pull any longer, if he got his hands on you, then it was over, but in space and pulling a non factor at his age.

Kosier not going to pancake anyone, but my hope is he can be effective in walling D-Line and LB's.

 

[austintodallas]

Twice Kyle Kosier was able to pull and seal off the outside linebacker. Both times it resulted in a nice run.

I like the sound of that.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Greg Ellis played LB in every set except the dime defense. (They did not practice nickel with the linemen while I was there) He struggled today as a linebacker. He got beaten a few times on pass routes and he did not beat the offensive tackles when rushing from a standing position. On one play Ellis got isolated on Witten on a crossing pattern and it was not even close. Witten was fifteen yards up field before the safety got to him.

This is what I fear with Ellis at LB. He may be able to over come it with reps but I have to say that I would be uncomfortable with Ellis playing OLB and having to cover anybody who can catch and run routes.

JMO

 

[Angus]

Thanks for the post.

 

[dallasfan31]

thanks nice report info keep it coming.

 

[RCowboyFan]

Finally, a great detailed report. Hope Vela does his normal summary reports soon on his observations and analysis etc.

 

[Longboysfan]

LA could not play in space or pull any longer, if he got his hands on you, then it was over, but in space and pulling a non factor at his age.

Exactly what I had been saying the past two years. Thanks.
Well stated.

 

[CowboyManDan]

Here's the fuill version

Evening Practice Report, Monday, July 31st
By Trey 14 Comments Here are some of my observations and opinions.

Drew Bledsoe has been accurate. Of the three backup QB, Drew Henson was the most accurate. Tony Romo through a number of ugly passes, but also threw a few nice touch passes. Jeff Mroz over threw bad enough that fans caught one of his balls. He will not beat out either of the other players.

Hmmm, I thought he was cut Good to hear his accuracy is up. This is Romo's season to prove he's worth something in his 4th/contract year, like BP said. I haven't given up hope for Henson. But I don't believe he'll be 'tested' like Romo is supposed to this year until next season.