Dallas Cowboys training camp: Practice #9

Full pads today in cool weather for the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo’s squeeze Jessica Simpson made an appearance at camp (Correction: it was a Simpson look-a-like, sorry, I gave you bad info). DeMarcus Ware sat out the practice. After the obligatory positional drills and stretching they ran a drill for the first time that I’ve seen: LB vs. RB/TE 1-on-1 drills. I didn’t get to see all of it because of the players blocking the view but I managed to peek a few of the matchups. Bradie got around Cricket, Carpenter abused Julius Crosslin and Walden bull-rushed Curtis to the QB. Ellis pancaked Cricket and Ronnie Cruz did a good job on Bradie. Walden got around Curtis, Felix put Burnett on the ground and MB3 decked Tyson Smith, actually hurting him to the point where he stayed on the ground for a few minutes.

They followed with a long session of skeleton passing drills and technique work for the defensive groups. Next we got WR vs. CB 1-on-1 drills right in front of where we were sitting. T.O. abused Scandrick on a double-move, Crayton caught a slant on AJ, and Bennett got a catch against Watkins. Jenkins had blanket coverage on Austin and broke up the pass, Hurd caught a quick slant on Oglesby who popped him to the turf, then Bennett got a catch on Courtney Brown. Scandrick had good coverage on Jefferson disrupting the pass and Stanback had a catch on Henry. Lowber caught an out on Jenkins then Amendola broke AJ’s ankles sending him to the turf. Roy was all over Drew Atchison and broke up the pass. Crayton shook loose for a fade but wasn’t ready for the ball when it arrived and missed it. T.O. caught one on Jenkins who had good coverage but didn’t get his head turned. Hurd caught a quick slant on Jenkins, Atchison beat Hamlin and Scandrick got inside on Austin to disrupt the pass.

Stanback caught one on Oglesby, AJ was on T.O. but the pass was off-target, then Jenkins pushed Bradford to the turf on a double-move, probably pass interference. Lowber made an excellent catch on Henry, Amendola beat Scandrick, and Austin caught a slant on Oglesby. Hurd had no problem shaking Jenkins, AJ had a nice breakup on Jefferson and Crayton beat Scandrick because he didn’t get his head turned. Braford and Henry battled but the pass was overthrown and Stanback beat Jenkins. They tried an out pass to Lowber but Oglesby jumped it and made an INT. Scandrick got good coverage on Amendola then T.O. caught one on AJ but he pushed off to do it and was flagged (they had refs at today’s practice) although I think it was one of the defensive backs who pulled the flag out and threw it. Austin had a great catch against Jenkins and Bradford caught one on Henry.

They broke for special teams and were practicing punts with AJ, Amendola and Crayton returning them.

Next up was 7-on-7. Romo started with a dumpoff to MB3 then T.O. dropped a TD catch after beating Jenkins. After another MB3 dumpoff, Witten got across Burnett for catch, Austin caught another crossing pattern and then Cricket pulled up short on his pattern for an incompletion. Brad started with a pass intended for Choice but Bobby Carpenter broke it up. Stanback caught a short one but relaxed and Roy dislodged the ball for a fumble. Crayton caught one underneath on Scandrick, Stanback caught one in a huge hole in the zone, and then Atchison caught a short one. Bartel hit Hannah on a short one on Dowayne Davis.

Romo was back and hit Witten short, Crayton caught one in the middle when Zach got too deep and then Romo hit Crayton because Oglesby showed the blitz too soon and Romo read it. Curtis caught a short one, Felix split wide on the next play but the pass went to Witten then Crayton caught one short on Scandrick. Brad connected with Crayton again in front of Bradie and Roy, Austin put a stutter-step move on Scandrick to shake loose and Hurd also got free on Scandrick. Brad managed to get all the flow of the defense one way then came back and hit Coleman on a swing pass for a TD. Bartel tried to hit Hannah but Justin Rogers broke it up although it was possible interference. He finished with an attempt to Jefferson but Davis got a hand in to disrupt it.

Next was special teams for kickoffs and the combination returning the kicks were: Austin and Stanback, Felix and Amendola, AJ and Hurd, Jenkins and Scandrick.

They got back together for a closing session of 11-on-11. Spears was at NT with the starters again and when the number one offense went to three-wide it was T.O. Crayton and Hurd. Bobby Carpenter was again with the second team as they moved Rogers outside because Ware sat out practice.

Romo started out with a short pass to MB3 but Canty would have gotten the sack. MB3 ran the ball but Ratliff was in the hole, then a play-action pass went incomplete because Spencer had good pressure. Romo hit Witten on a short one but he had a ton of open field ahead of him. Next was a surprise handoff to Cricket with Zach charging in for the tackle, after the play Cricket was jumping up and down because he actually got a run. Romo finished by hitting T.O. on a slant for a TD on Henry. Brad started with a run to Choice but Bowen had good position then Tyler Everett jumped and tipped a pass intended for Jefferson that Courtney Brown caught for an INT but the refs ruled pass interference negating the play. Oglesby broke up a pass intended for Hurd but Walden schooled McQ on the edge and made him hold to stop him from the sack. Coleman then took a handoff but Carpenter dragged him down. Bartel had to get rid of the ball because Tank blew up the middle and was in his face. He finished with a high throw to Bradford that he couldn’t catch.

Romo came back in and ran a draw to MB3 who blew through a huge hole in the middle of the defense. Next, Crayton was covered by Carpenter but Romo squeezed in a perfect pass that only Crayton could catch. Next was an errant pass to T.O., Austin dropped a quick slant, T.O. caught one on Carpenter over the middle followed by Crayton and Scandrick’s feet getting tangled up for an incompletion. Brad handed it to Choice but Canty made the stop, followed by a poor pass then Burnett blitzed and got good pressure forcing a dump pass to Curtis. Bartel handed off to Coleman who had a beautiful cutback run and the last play was an incompletion.

Tomorrow is a two-a-day, but the second practice report will be a sketchy report at best because I have to do two radio interviews while at practice.