Today’s practice may have been more significant for who didn’t practice than who did. The list was long and included Terrell Owens who came out on the field in full dress, but before any drills began he took off his shoulder pads and didn’t participate at all. Also unavailable were Terry Glenn (knee scope), Jason Hatcher, Kevin Burnett, Marc Colombo, Jim Molinaro, A. Glenn, Greg Ellis, Isaiah Stanback and Alonzo Coleman. Hatcher didn’t work out with the trainers and only stood around in his Cowboys’ hoodie. Flozell Adams did practice but didn’t participate in the 1-on-1 blocking drills.
It looks like the vets got a hold of a couple of rookies as Doug Free showed up with the right side of his head shaved and James Marten had a monk’s haircut with a tuft of hair right in the middle above his forehead. We also had another fight which I’ll discuss later.
The backs starting working on picking up blitzing linebackers but it was only ¾ speed and more about learning technique. They moved on to some 9-on-9 run scrimmage while the WR’s and TE’s battled the CB’s and safeties. I watched a little of both.
The 9-on-9 plays I saw went as follows: Akin Ayodele blew past a Hoyte block and stuffed JJ, then JJ tried a run to the right but Ware beat a Fasano block for the stop. MB3 tried a run but the trap blocks failed and Obomese made the stop, then MB3 followed a nice block by Hoyte on Carpenter for a good gain. Bowen clogged the middle on another MB3 run, then Ware and Bradie stuffed a run. MB3 busted a nice run up the middle. Blair Phillips stopped another run by MB3 and Canty made a nice play breaking up another run by Battle. TT got a nice hole on the right side for a good gain, then he got stopped by K. Davis and Blair Phillips on another run. TT ran a sweep to the left behind some nice blocking, followed by a sweep to the right but Marcus Smith made the tackle. Bowen blew up a run by penetrating into the backfield, then JJ got a nice hole for a big run.
In the WR-TE/DB-S battles Henry broke up a post intended for Hurd, J. Thomas got an INT and Hamlin broke up a pass intended for a TE. Fasano beat K. Davis on the edge, Nate Jones had good coverage deep on an overthrown ball and Watkins broke one up against Tony Curtis. J. Thomas got another pick, Andy Thorn beat Roy for a catch and Crayton caught one in front of Henry. Hurd made a spectacular catch against tight coverage from Newman, and Courtney Brown got beat by a TE. Finally, in a shocker, Hurd dropped an easy pass.
After that they broke off into punt drills while Ware again worked with Pasqualoni on technique, as he did in the kickoff drills later.
Next was 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 blocking drills simultaneously, I watched the blocking drills because the 7-on-7 consisted of a lot of short dump-offs and patterns in the flats.
Doug Free looked good against Canty, Gurode knocked Bowen to the ground and fell on him, and McQ handled Spears. McQ then drove Ratliff wide and L. Davis got beat badly by Spears because he lunged forward and missed him. Sparano got on him. Ratliff then fell down trying to beat Davis, Gurode handled Dagunduro, and Kosier was OK with Bowen. Free gave up too much penetration to Bowen but came back and looked OK against Canty.
Trey Darilek pushed Stanley out of the way, Berger and Fergie battled to a draw and Marcus Smith beat Procter. Spears had no problem pushing Marten back then Ratliff went right around Marten on the outside. Procter was good on Marcus Smith, Darilek pushed Bowen outside and Free stood his ground against Canty. Darilek handled R. Ayodele, Berger stood up Dagunduro, and Ratliff again beat Marten. Spears tried a spin move on Steve Franklin but fell, Free battled Bowen to a draw, and Spears beat McQ. Procter rode Ratliff to the outside, Matt Tarullo stood up Stanley, and Kosier got beat by Bowen. Canty finished the drill by getting around Free.
After that they practiced kickoffs with Martin Gramatica kicking one to the 7-yard line and one to the 4-yard line. Folk kicked one to the 10-yard line and one to the 2-yard line.
An 11-on-11 drill finished out the practice. Flozell was the left tackle and McQ was the right tackle, Crayton and Hurd were the starting receivers. Garrett was calling the plays from the sideline. Romo dumped a short pass to JJ, then JJ tried the middle but Fergie held his ground. Ware got a sack around Flozell but the play resumed and JJ dropped a dump pass. MB3 had a good run to the left, Fasano caught one in the flats and Hoyte tried the middle but R. Ayodele made the stop.
Johnson lined up in the shotgun and ran a draw to TT through a massive hole on the left side. Johnson then showed nice touch on a pass to Tony Curtis who beat John Saldi. TT tried the middle for a short gain, then Battle tried a run to the left but Canty closed down the hole. Matt Moore hit Jehreme Urban in the flats then Battle ran through a big hole in the middle. At the end of that play Matt Tarullo was still blocking and rolled up into Ken Hamlin’s legs, Hamlin took offense and got in Tarullo’s face. Akin Ayodele kind of punched/pushed the back of Tarullo’s helmet then both sides got into a big scrum in the endzone. Good times.
Update [2007-7-31 20:44:15 by Grizz]: I originally had the fight with Steve Rissler because I was taking the info off DC.com's roster, but it turns out #61 is not Rissler, who was cut earleir this summer, but Matt Tarullo, who was brought in over the summer. Either way, it was a scrub linemen rolling up on Hamlin. [END UPDATE]
Once order was restored Romo came back in and hit JJ in the flats but Ratliff had already pushed McQ into Romo, more than likely a sack. JJ tried the middle but Carpenter made a nice stop. Romo threw a quick pass to Crayton, then Witten caught one down the seam between Hamlin and Roy. MB3 tried a sweep to the right where they pulled L. Davis but he didn’t really get a good block and Newman was able to provide support and turn the play into traffic. Romo finished by connecting with Witten in front of Roy.
Johnson threw another beautiful touch pass to Rector for a TD who had beaten Courtney Brown. Ware just missed getting a sack on the play. TT tried a run but Dagunduro drove Berger into the backfield disrupting the timing. Johnson dumped one off to TT then TT tried a sweep to the right with a couple of linemen pulling, but Carpenter shot through the traffic and threw TT to the ground in the backfield. Bartel came on and had all day to pass and threw a TD to Rodney Hannah, then Battle tried a run but Ratliff was in position to make the stop.