Dallas Cowboys training camp: Practice #8

Me and Roy.

Me, Adam Jones and Shango.

Sorry about the delay in writing this morning’s practice report but after the practice Shango and I went with Don from dallascowboysfanz.com over to the Cowboys hotel. Don has a Hummer 3 with serious Cowboys decals all over it and Sam Hurd said he would get some players to come over and sign the car. As it turned out Sam never showed but we got Zach Thomas, Kevin Burnett, Roy Williams and Adam Jones to come over and sign the car and take pictures. We also saw Michael Irvin, Nate Newton and James Washington walking around but didn’t get them over to sign.

We told Zach that we were bloggers; he turned kind of semi-serious on us and said the blogs always hate on him because he’s short. I told him we were hyped to have him in Dallas and we are calling him the tackling machine. He liked that. Kevin Burnett was with his kids so we didn’t bother him too much, Roy Williams was cool and hung for a bit and Adam Jones was very quiet but stayed for pictures. So that’s what I was doing in between practices. We left the afternoon practice because this time it really was a special teams only practice and I wanted to get back and give you the goods on the early morning practice.

In the morning they were in full pads and went through their normal stretching and positional drills. Then they jumped right into some 11-on-11. Romo kicked it off by hitting Crayton on an out in front of Jenkins then Hurd caught one over the middle with Henry as the closest defender. Jason Witten caught a ball slightly behind him on a slant pattern. Kevin Burnett had nice coverage and breakup of a pass intended for Tony Curtis. Rodney Hannah caught a short pass in front of Courtney Brown. Brad came on and hit Jefferson while rolling-out with Scandrick in coverage. Jefferson then found a wide-open hole in the middle of the zone, Coleman caught a dump pass, and they tried another dump pass but Bradie was right there. Bartel tried to hit Polk but was incomplete and then threw a hitch to Amendola for a catch but Bradie James came in and popped him.

Romo was back on and threw a dump pass to MB3 under heavy defensive pressure from the line. Austin caught one on the sidelines then Romo threw an incompletion under pressure from Carpenter and Bowen.

They broke apart with the OL/DL going 1-on-1 at one end and on our end they ran 7-on-7. Romo hit T.O. for a catch in front of Hamlin then threw a dump off to Curtis with Zach in hot pursuit. After a hitch to T.O., Hurd got deep on AJ but the pass was overthrown. Austin caught a short pass then Burnett broke up a pass intended for Bennett. Brad came on and hit Jefferson deep and it was a very nice catch beating Oglesby to the ball. After a short pass to Crayton he threw one low to the ground but Stanback was able to scoop it up in front of Jenkins, He then threw a short one to Coleman and then a short one to Hannah with Zach coming in for the tackle. Bartel threw a swing pass to Coleman but Bradie had very good pursuit then T.O. caught a short one.

Romo came back on and hit Witten for a catch with Carpenter in coverage, then someone caught a short pass but fumbled (I couldn’t see who it was, maybe Crayton?) followed by a short pass to Austin. Brad came on and hit Bennett right in the hands but he dropped it. Choice caught a short dump pass

They broke for special teams with Felix and AJ taking on the kickoff return duties.

Back to more 7-on-7 with Romo dumping one to MB3 then Burnett had one hit him in the hands but he couldn’t bring it in for an INT. T.O. couldn’t catch a high pass with Ball in coverage then Austin made a fabulous catch deep over Ball who actually had good coverage. Felix caught a short one and Courtney Brown made the tackle followed by an underneath pattern to Witten where Roy made the tackle. Brad was next and hit Hurd on a short stop pattern in front of Jenkins then Stanback caught a short one on Scandrick. Austin ran a dig pattern but the pass was high and he couldn’t bring it in and Brad closed with a short pass to Jefferson. Bartel threw a very low pass to Lowber who made a great catch with AJ in coverage. Amendola caught an out in front of Henry.

They moved the 7-on-7 to the redzone and Romo started out with a pass to T.O. but he bobbled it into Watkins hands who couldn’t hold on to it and it fell incomplete. Romo and Witten mistimed a hot-read for an incompletion then Stanback almost made a beautiful one-hand catch in the endzone on AJ but he just couldn’t hold onto it. Romo tried to hit Crayton in the back of the endzone but Courtney Brown made a leaping interception. Brad came on threw a short pass to Hurd then threw a bad pass to T.O. for an incompletion.

They broke again for special teams then came back for 11-on-11. Romo gave a handoff to MB3 but Canty and Spears stuffed it. Witten then made a catch because Bradie blew the coverage causing Campo to yell. T.O. beat AJ on a dig route, Spencer got heavy pressure on Romo forcing an incompletion and then Felix ran a draw through a big hole in the middle because Tank was fooled. Felix took a handoff with Spencer in his face but he made a nice cutback to get away. Brad gave Choice the ball for a short run up the middle then Choice tried another run but Marcus Dixon made the stop. T.O. caught a short pass and then Brad threw low to Stanback. Bartel threw a swing pass to Julius Crosslin and then Amendola caught one along the sidelines.

They moved the 11-on-11 to the redzone at the other end of the field and the players were lined up right in my view, so I can’t begin to tell you what happened down there. Sorry, that happens every so often.

Adam Jones ran some with the first unit switching out with Mike Jenkins and Marcus Spears was once again spending time at NT.

The next practice is tomorrow in the afternoon.