Notes on the Cowboys @ Broncos game

The Star-T has the info on who will play for how long. 

The only starters who will not play the entire first half will be quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten, running back Marion Barber and wide receiver Terrell Owens. That group will likely play only one quarter.

That means Brad Johnson will get at least a quarter, maybe more depending on what happens, to play with the first team offensive line. To me, this will answer a lot of questions. Were his problems from last week solely a function of the second team offensive line? We’ll find out tonight.

Here’s who won’t be playing.

Six players will miss tonight’s game at Denver. They are defensive backs Terence Newman (groin) and Quincy Butler (hamstring); linebackers Anthony Spencer (bone bruise) and Kevin Burnett (knee); defensive lineman Marcus Dixon (back) and defensive back Tyler Everett (back).

I know that Adam Jones has to worry about getting his defense in order first, but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing him return a punt or two. Hey, I might get my wish. 

[Wade] Phillips said on Thursday when asked if Adam Jones would return any punts, "Uh, maybe not," but then on Friday amended that to "maybe - one or two."

In my film review this week, one of the only guys I saw doing a decent job on special teams was Pat Watkins, who handled his gunner position well. (It was the other side that was a disaster). Wade agrees.

When asked who might take over for Keith Davis as special teams captain this year, Phillips suggested third-year safety Pat Watkins, who led the team last year with 25 special teams tackles. "I think he is our best one, and I think he has some leadership qualities," Phillips said of Watkins. "I think Pat Watkins is that guy who is going to probably lead that group."

Todd Archer is looking for bounce-back performances from Brad Johnson, Adam Jones, Danny Amendola. The Star-T has more players to watch. The guy who I think is getting the biggest opportunity on Saturday night, and for the next few weeks, is Bobby Carpenter. He’s is going to be given a lot of reps with Kevin Burnett out until at least the first regular season game. Carpenter may have been shifted around since he got here, and maybe he hasn’t gotten the fairest of shakes, although I think a lot of his failings are from his own performance. Now he’ll be given a few games as the main backup and will have every opportunity to force the coaches to give him serious reps in the regular season. Good luck, Captain Caveman.

DallasCowboys.com has a long article on Martellus Bennett and his appearances on HBO’s Hard Knocks. Keon Lattimore also gets a little ink. I’m not really going to discuss the article because I did more than enough of that in this post. Also, I’m actually kind of tired of the subject already. I’ll just watch for what he does on the field.