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Right tackle still an open question for Cowboys

By Dave Halprin

Update [2006-8-16 13:8:26 by Grizz]: Here's the rumor around camp concerning a Shanle trade to the Patriots, from Matt Mosley:

Here's a name that was passed along to me by someone who has followed the Patriots since the Fairbanks era: Offensive tackle Brandon Gorin. Gorin, who played his college ball at Purdue, started eight games for New England last year and could provide depth behind Flozell Adams or possibly challenge for the starting spot at right tackle.

The RT battle royal continues this week, with Rob Petitti moving back to the left side (temporarily), and Marc Colombo and Jason Fabini preparing to play the Saints game. From what I saw in camp and in the first preseason game, I'm still giving the edge to Colombo. Fabini needs to show in the Saints game that he can handle the pass blocking duties, to go along with the good run blocking he showed late in camp.  Petitti has been a slight disappointment after all the praise we heard about his physical transformation in the offseason.

The DFW S-T has an article about it, focusing mainly on Colombo.

Parcells said Colombo's performance against Seattle was "passable." The Cowboys need more than passable with the less-than-fleet-footed Drew Bledsoe in the pocket.

But Colombo thinks he can be better than passable. He has come too far to think otherwise. Despite the disinterest NFL teams showed when he was cut, he always believed he was better than passable. Retiring was not an option.

"That was never my mentality," Colombo said. "I would have kept going until someone picked me up."

Good to see Marcus Spears back in pads and doing some good things in practice. He needs to get going to keep Jay Ratliff from stealing his starter's job. With those two on the left side, and Chris Canty on the right, the Cowboys are going to be tough to run on around the edges.

During a one-on-one drill with starting right tackle candidate Marc Colombo, Spears drove the 6-foot-8, 320-pound Colombo backward and into the ground, knocking his helmet off.

"That's welcome to camp, Spears," Parcells shouted. "You just reported to camp."

Poor Drew Henson, he's having a tough time of it lately. If Parcells plays Matt Baker in the Saints game and not Drew Henson, then I'd actually start to believe there's a chance Henson's time was over. But I don't think it will happen, I believe Parcells is just getting a look at the new QB. (Although he never benched Henson for Mroz in any of the practices I saw).

Rookie quarterback Matt Baker, from North Carolina, worked with the third team ahead of Drew Henson during both practices Tuesday.

A Boston paper thinks the Patriots may be looking at Scott Shanle. That's probably why Parcells started him and played him so much in the Seattle game, the Pats needed some tape to look at.

Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli was present at the Dallas Cowboys' practice yesterday, apparently to scout players for a possible trade. The Cowboys have some depth at linebacker, which is an area of need for the Patriots. One possible target is Scott Shanle (6-2, 245 pounds), who started the Cowboys' exhibition opener against the Seahawks in what some considered an audition. The 26-year-old Shanle, a four-year veteran who played at Nebraska, started eight games last season and has a background in the 3-4 defense under Bill Parcells. The Cowboys are seeking help at offensive tackle and receiver, and the Patriots have some depth at the tackle spot. The Cowboys had a member of their scouting staff in Foxborough this week.

Akin Ayodele has a second job, go here to find out what it is.

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