The Dallas Cowboys were in shorts and shoulder pads this morning and were without both starting tackles on offense, Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo. Doug Free filled in for Flozell and Pat McQuistan was in for Colombo. Also, Marcus Spears was back at DE and Jay Ratliff was back at NT for today’s practice. I told OG Cory Lekkerkerker before practice that his name was just too long to type and he needed a nickname; he told everybody calls him Lek so I’m going with that. During the warm-ups Danny Amendola was catching punts but didn’t do it during the special teams sessions.

After positional drills and stretching they went right into a session of 11-on-11. Romo gave the ball to MB3 who had a good run to the right side. Then they motioned T.O. into the backfield at the TB position and faked a pitch to him and handed it to Felix who had a big run to the left side. Austin caught an out on Oglesby then Felix tried a run to the right. Brad came on and handed to Choice for a short run up the middle followed by a pass deep intended for Austin but Oglesby had good coverage and broke it up. They ran the same play where they motioned T.O. into the backfield but this time they pitched it to him but Oglesby wasn’t fooled and pursued him to the sideline. Brad finished with a roll-out and hit Jefferson on an out pattern. Bartel threw quickly to Amendola for a catch to avoid a Spencer rush then Lattimore had a short run with a possible fumble, couldn’t see it for sure in the crowd of bodies. Romo was back in and handed to MB3 for a run but Remi Ayodele stuffed it. The FB got a run up the middle but Bowen and Burnett were there. Witten then beat Carpenter for a catch.

A break for special teams. Jerry, Stephen and Wade were having a long conversation on the sidelines during this stretch while T.O. was messing with AJ. AJ tried to squirt him with the water hose but T.O. was too quick and got out of the way laughing the whole time. They practiced punts with AJ and Crayton catching the ball. They used Hurd and Watkins as the #1 gunners, Cricket was the deep protect guy in the punt formation with Curtis and Bennett the protect guys closer to the line.

After that we got some 7-on-7. Romo started with bomb to T.O. but Hamlin had the coverage and the ball bounced off his shoulder pad. Curtis dropped a pass in the flats, T.O. caught a quick slant on AJ and Crayton caught one on Jenkins. Curtis was open short underneath for a catch and Crayton caught a drag pattern in the flats. Brad opened by hitting Austin underneath and then Choice underneath. Next was a swing pass to Coleman followed by Stanback beating Henry on a slant for a TD. Bartel came on and hit Bradford in the flats then he tried Bradford again but Henry had good coverage for an incompletion.

More Romo who hit Witten for catch on the sidelines beating Burnett but the ref ruled him out-of-bounds. They had problems getting lined up correctly two plays in a row then when they finally ran a play Witten caught one in between Carpenter and Burnett followed by a swing pass to Felix. Romo then tried to hit Curtis on an out after he motioned across the offense but Carpenter stepped inside and picked it off and would have had six going the other way. Brad then hit Stanback on a short one followed by Bennett catching one against Davis.

After another break for special teams they came out for a final session of 11-on-11. Romo hit Curtis who was wide open in the flats, MB3 tried a run but Canty and Rat filled the hole then he threw an incompletion to T.O. but the refs called pass interference on Jenkins. Canty ate up a Felix run in the backfield, then Bennett caught a TD in the flats; Spencer had good pressure but Felix got just enough of a block to let Romo get the pass off. Brad pitched to Choice for a run to the right but Tank pursued it down the line and Oglesby turned it inside at the edge. Austin caught one in the middle and Carpenter gave him a sharp pop afterwards. Stanabck was open but Brad threw a terrible pass, Coleman had a short run, then they pitched to Coleman but Burnett ran him down and threw him down by his jersey. Brad finished by throwing a TD pass to Drew Atchison.

Romo was back on and hit Curtis who was wide open in the middle, Witten caught one in the flats and Witten beat Davis over the middle. Felix had a decent run through the middle before Davis made the tackle then they tried a pass to the endzone but Carpenter made a good play on defense to stop the completion. Felix ran a short one in for a TD that set off some jawing and animated jumping around by Junior Siavii that looked to be directed at Gurode. Hamlin was walking up to take his defensive turn and said something about someone having a big mouth. Brad came on and threw a deep pass complete to Hurd but the play would have been dead because Spears busted through for a sack. Bennett made a catch in front of Roy, on the next play Ware sacked Brad, then Spears ate up a Coleman run. Bartel finished with a roll-out that he had to throw away because of the coverage then a bad snap exchange closed the practice.

I’ll be back for a report later tonight after the afternoon practice.