The Cowboys were in shells this afternoon for what was a pretty lively practice. Ken Hamlin and Roy Williams decided to add a little contact to the proceedings by popping a couple of receivers in the 7-on-7 drill, and we had a mini-scuffle between Oliver Hoyte and Joey Thomas. I think these guys are ready to hit someone in a jersey that doesn’t have the star on it. Thursday can’t get here soon enough for the team.

Most of the regular injury guys were out, Isaiah Stanback, Alonzo Coleman, Greg Ellis, Jason Hatcher, Jamaica Rector, Alan Ball, but add to the list Quincy Butler and T.O., who is reported to have a sore back. Maybe it’s from carrying the weight of all the negative ESPN coverage. I kid.

Before practice got started, Stanback was running routes with Ray Sherman watching closely. Sam Hurd was giving a few lessons to new WR Damarius Bilbo. Terence Newman decided to run a few drills with the receivers again. Also, Barry Switzer made an appearance at the Alamodome.

They started with a 9-on-9 run scrimmage. JJ opened with a run to the left behind an Oliver Hoyte block on John Saldi, JJ took it the other way on the next play and Colombo did a good job of sealing the edge, then Ola Dagunduro burst through the line to disrupt a play in the backfield. MB3 followed L. Davis who pulled to the left side through a hole, then Blair Phillips met MB3 in the hole, followed by Ayodele getting a stop on TT. Polite laid a nice block on Bradie to open up the middle, then Spears beat Procter to blow up a run in the backfield. Battle got some good yards up the middle, Glymph got upfield on Rodney Hannah’s block to mess up the timing of a run, and Battle hit the middle again for a few yards.

Hoyte busted up Kevin Burnett to give JJ some room, MB3 went wide to the left but Carpenter came through the traffic to force him to the sideline. Davis pulled on another run and buried Alex Obemese, Spencer got upfield on a Witten block to disrupt a play, Berger buried R. Ayodele on a middle run then Berger and Procter double-teamed R. Ayodele on another run, but Ratliff crashed down the line to get the stop.

FG’s were next and both Gramatica and Folk connected from 24, 29, 34 and 39 yards. Then they practiced kickoffs and Gramatica hit the 10 and 3-yard line while Folk hit the 3 and 4-yard line. There wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the hang times of the kicks.

They split for 7-on-7 and OL/DL drills and I watched the blocking drills. They are still holding Colombo and Flozell out of these drills. Free pushed Bowen wide, Kosier held up Ratliff, and Gurode was OK on R. Ayodele. Davis pushed Marcus Smith wide, McQ battled Spears to a draw, followed by McQ able to stay in front of Bowen. David pushed Ratliff to the inside after Ratliff got the jump on him, R. Ayodele got around Gurode (anybody getting around Gurode has been rare at camp), and Kosier looked OK against Bowen. Free was good on Smith, Darilek blocked R. Ayodele and Stanley got good penetration on Berger. Ratliff was able to push Procter back, then Spears abused James Marten. Procter stoned R. Ayodele, Dagunduro got by Berger and Stanley also got by Berger.

Punt practice was next and Ware and Pasqualoni picked up their one-on-one tutoring sessions again.

After punts it was on to 11-on-11. Romo opened up with a short pass to Hurd who was in front of N. Jones. JJ had a good run as Kosier pulled and buried B. Phillips. On the play of the day, Hurd beat J. Thomas deep down the sideline for a TD. The pass from Romo was nice and Hurd adjusted his body well to make the catch. Romo overthrew Witten on the next play, then MB3 had a nice run on a cutback.

Moore came on and hit Battle in the flats, hit Battle underneath, then threw a strike to Adam Bergen down the middle between Hamlin and Roy. Spears came up the middle for the sack then Henry picked of a short pass to Jefferson that would have been six points for the defense.

Romo was back and hit Crayton on an out, JJ ran to the left, and J. Thomas broke up a pass intended for Hurd. Witten caught one across the middle beating Obomese. Bartel replaced Romo and hit Tony Curtis with two short passes, then was sacked as Bradie and Spencer met at the QB. Jefferson had a beautiful catch on a ball that just barely beat Newman’s attempt to deflect it, then Rodney Hannah caught one over the middle even though he was hit by Hamlin right as the ball arrived.

Bard Johnson was next and tried a run to TT but Carpenter was good for the stop, Jefferson dropped a pass that was underthrown but he stopped for it and should have had it. A bad shotgun snap ruined the next play, then R. Ayodele broke through to snuff a TT run.

Romo gave the ball to JJ for a good run to the left, then had to scramble because the coverage was tight. Romo followed with an improvised flip-pass to JJ at the line of scrimmage, then Spears provided a nice rush and Hamlin broke up the pass to Austin. Colombo pulled on the next run and Hoyte and J. Thomas got into a little pushing and shoving after the play. Not quite a fight, just a minor scuffle. Romo finished by throwing a nice pass to Hurd on a deep in but Hurd turned his head looking for the defense and dropped the ball.

Moore finished the practice with a short pass to Andy Thorn and tried to throw the ball on a roll-out, but it sailed out of bounds.

A special shout-out to BTB-regular llutherr and his awesome family who braved sitting with me and Shango and listened to our constant rants at practice. His wife was extremely nice and kept us entertained throughout practice. llutherr made it into the background of the newest Shango video and his family appeared in Shango’s fanspeak segment.