It was a full dress, full contact practice this afternoon so there was some good stuff going on today. They opened with a punt drill and while that was going on they were showing highlights on the giant screen. Then they showed a video of Mickey Spags interviewing MB3, so Crayton, Glymph and Ayodele were gathered around MB3 laughing and joking at his expense. I know - not really newsworthy - but I always try to give you some flavor of the non-football stuff at practice. Anyway, Flozell practiced and Aaron Glenn practiced, but Jamaica Rector didn’t and most the other guys who haven’t practiced recently still didn’t. I read that they are going to reach an injury settlement with Jim Molianro, they must have done that because I didn’t see him out there at all today.
They ran a 9-on-9 run scrimmage while the WR’s and CB’s battled at the other end. I watched the 9-on-9, and I usually don’t editorialize in these reports but for the first time it seemed that the run offense was better than the defense.
JJ got a nice run when he cut it to the backside, the L. Davis pushed Spears back and Hoyte ran the ball right up their back and pushed the pile further. JJ had a huge run when Flozell blocked Spencer on an off-tackle play. Bradie and Ayodele did a run blitz that stuffed the next play, then Ware got inside L. Davis when he was pulling to disrupt a MB3 run at the line. MB3 took one up the middle for a nice gain, then TT also found room in the middle. Doug Free pulled on a TT sweep and cleared a nice lane, then TT tried to bounce one outside but Carpenter made the stop at the line.
Battle got some yards with a quick burst through the right side, then Deon Anderson blasted B. Phillips to create a hole for Battle. Hoyte got a good block on Bradie to open up space for JJ, L. Davis pulled on the next play and sealed the edge but MB3 didn’t read the hole correctly. Spears almost had MB3 in the backfield but Ware crashed into Spears while trying to make the tackle and MB3 slipped away. D. Harrington shot the gap to stop a TT run. TT ran into traffic at the line on his next run, but spun off of it and went outside and Watkins finally made the tackle. Battle had a good run with some hard running up the middle, but on the final play he ran into a lot of traffic.
They broke off for some punt practice before coming back to do some 7-on-7 drills while the line did 1-on-1 blocking. I watched the 7-on-7 drill this time.
Romo started out by hitting Fasano in the flats who had a couple of steps on Spencer, then he tried a pump-n-go with Hurd but overthrew him. He connected with Urban on a comeback route in front of Henry, then misfired behind Austin on a quick slant. He finished by hitting Hurd on the sidelines who was wide open a couple of yards in front of A. Glenn.
Johnson dumped a short one to TT, then Newman broke up a deep pass intended for Urban. Spencer did a nice job of breaking in front of Adam Bergen to break up a pass in the flats. Moore tried to go over the middle but Pat Watkins jumped high in the air to break it up, but in truth he should have picked it off. Moore finished by throwing to Mike Jefferson deep against Reeves, but Jefferson couldn’t hold on to the pass.
Romo was back and hit Fasano underneath, then he thread the needle between Ayodele and K. Davis with a bullet pass to Crayton. Next was a dump pass to Witten then he hit MB3 in the flats. Johnson hooked up with Jamel Richardson in front of Alan Ball, then hit Austin for a short pass in front of Henry. Bartel hit a short one to Rabb in front of Newman and threw to Battle in the flats.
11-on-11 was next and Romo threw a short one to JJ underneath. They tried a reverse to Crayton but Ware stayed at home and made the play 5-yards in the backfield. They lined up with JJ and MB3 in the backfield split around Romo in the shotgun and Romo hit MB3 in the flats. MB3 then had a decent run followed by another MB3 run but R. Ayodele held his position for the stop. Romo rolled-out to the right and threw a short pass to MB3.
Johnson came on but had no chance as Ware went right around James Marten for the sack, then Bradie James timed a blitz up the middle so perfectly that he was untouched and sacked Johnson before he could even complete his drop. Next, Johnson did a sneaky handoff to TT while following through with a fake jump pass. Moore gave the ball to Battle for a middle run but it was stuffed by the d-line. Battle tried again but Dagunduro stopped it short.
Romo came on and it was a jailbreak on the rush so the play died, then Ware went right around Flozell for another sack. Romo rolled-out but couldn’t find anybody so he had to scramble. Roy tried a blitz but Romo read it and threw quickly to Witten who had a step on Spencer. MB3 tried a run but Carpenter made a nice play to stop it in the backfield, then Ratliff got a sack but Romo held the ball too long. MB3 got a long run but Spears claimed he made the tackle, it was close and a tough call.
Johnson hit Polite in the flats, then TT ran through a big hole in the middle. Brad had to scramble on the next play and dumped one short to Austin. Battle tried a run but Ratliff and Carpenter stuffed it. Bartel gave it to Battle up the middle for an OK run then Jefferson dropped one right in his hands.
We thought that was the end of practice but Wade kept them out there to run a hurry-up drill from around the 50-yrad line. Romo started with a screen to MB3 that actually worked! Then he overthrew Urban, connected with MB3 underneath and hit Austin who has beaten J. Thomas. MB3 ran a nice draw play, then Romo threw a strike to Witten down the seam for a TD.
Johnson ran a draw to JJ but Canty stopped it, then threw a lateral pass to JJ who had got caught up in pass protection and couldn’t really get out into the pattern. He then hit Jamel Richardson over the middle and he turned and had a nice run after the catch until Roy horse-collared him. Johnson connected with Hurd on the sideline in front of Newman, threw short to Fasano then ran one to TT who got smacked by Roy and Johnson ran out of time.
Matt Moore started with a pass to Jerard Rabb but he dropped it, then Marcus Smith blocked a pass at the line of scrimmage. He connected with Urban who had a nice run after the catch, then threw twice to TT in the flats. Courtney Brown broke up a pass intended for Rabb before Moore threw a beautiful deep pass to Mike Jefferson who had gotten behind Elam for a picturesque TD. That ended the practice.