OK, that headline was a blatant tease. The only shakeup I’m talking about is in the locker room. Wade Phillips has moved everybody around to different lockers in an effort to create his "We Are Family" atmosphere. Mickey Spags explains:
Yes, the Cowboys locker room has been reshuffled out here at The Ranch, and it's somewhat of a dramatic and meaningful reshuffling since the housing concept has not changed since 1990. That's breaking a long-standing tradition of position segregation, what with the offensive players housed on the south side of the locker room and the defensive players over there to the north.
This desegregation comes from orders on high, new head coach Wade Phillips not just talking a good game of that "family atmosphere" he promised when sworn in as the Dallas Cowboys' new coach, but doing something tangible to promote camaraderie the best he can.
I won’t even try to go into everything Mickey wrote about in the article, you’ll have to go read it for yourself. But suffice it to say that Mickey gives a complete history of the Valley Ranch locker room.
On the heels of Todd Archer’s LB review comes Nick Eatman’s LB review. There’s not much new to say about the roster at this point, especially for us crazies who follow every minuscule detail of the Dallas Cowboys. But he did bring up one point that needs to change this year.
Between the Cowboys two starting inside linebackers, Akin Ayodele and Bradie James combined for just one sack last season. The new defensive scheme is expected to produce more pressure from up the middle. Last season, Phillips' defense in San Diego produced nine sacks from their three inside linebackers of Randall Godfrey (4), Donnie Edwards (2 ½) and Stephen Cooper (2 ½). Oh, and that doesn't mean the Chargers weren't getting pressure from the outside. Shawne Merriman led the entire league with 17 sacks while Shaun Phillips added 11 ½ sacks.
I’m not going to argue about the scheme of Parcells vs. Phillips, but even if Dallas was playing a soft Cover 2 defense on every defensive snap, for the entire season, with no blitzes, I would still expect the MLB’s to at least accidentally trip into a couple of sacks. All I’m saying is one sack from those guys is just not acceptable. And Roy Williams managed none.
So ESPN has this section about travel to NFL training camps. I thought I’m going to the Cowboys’ training camp, so let’s take a look. I clicked on the link and started to read about San Antonio and Matt Mosley was the tour guide talking about the Alamodome, River Walk, The Alamo and other stuff. Then there was a recommendation section for restaurants etc. Here it is, see if you notice anything wrong.
Restaurant: Lobster Trap Restaurant (in Casa Sirena Hotel & Marina Resort, 3605 Peninsula Rd., Channel Islands Harbor, Oxnard, Calif. 93035; 805-985-6361; (http://www.casasirenahotel.com/dining.asp). Steak, prime rib and seafood at a beautiful harbor setting.
Cheap eats: Big Daddy O's Beach BBQ (2333 Roosevelt Blvd., Oxnard, Calif. 93035; 805-984-0014). Heavy on the ribs, light on the wallet.
Alternative activity: Tour the vineyards in and around Santa Barbara, Calif. (http://santabarbara.winecountry.com/)
Looks like somebody forgot to cut and paste the new San Antonio information into the old Oxnard template.