Wade Phillips had the Cowboys in full pads this morning. Flozell Adams didn’t practice, along with Marc Colombo, Isaiah Stanback, Alonzo Coleman, Kevin Burnett, Greg Ellis, Jamaica Rector and Jason Hatcher. Hatcher was doing a little more work on the bungee rope but didn’t look to be close to returning. Doug Free worked at LT with the 1st unit in place of Flozell and McQ worked at RT. JJ was back again today at his usual spot with the 1st unit.
I watched the WR vs. CB drills today, and the WR’s were getting the best of the drill. Hurd caught a short one against Newman, Reeves feel down on a cut while trying to cover Urban who made the catch, and Crayton beat A. Glenn on an in pattern. Austin beat Quincy Butler on a post, Joey Thomas had good coverage on Mike Jefferson on a deep pattern that was incomplete and Jerard Rabb beat Alan Ball for a catch. Damarius Bilbo, who looks to be permanently changed to a WR, caught a comeback pattern on N. Jones. Hurd made a good cut to lose Henry over the middle for a completion and Jamel Richardson got the better of Newman after a physical hand-fight battle at the line. T.O. had no problem with Reeves, Crayton beat J. Thomas on a post, and Bilbo got inside Butler on a slant.
N. Jones was called for pass interference while covering Urban, Jefferson lost Ball in coverage on a deep pattern but dropped the pass, and Austin beat A. Glenn. T.O. beat Henry deep, Rabb caught one against Newman and Reeves had a good deflection against Crayton for an incompletion. Jefferson couldn’t hold on to the ball because Thomas hit him just as he was catching it, Butler fell down trying to stay with Hurd, and Bilbo made a tough catch against tight coverage from Jones. Jamel Richardson and Alan Ball were having a physical battle and Richardson pushed Ball down, causing an injury and the trainers had to help Ball off the field. Newman was all over Urban along the sideline and got an INT, then Thomas had the coverage on Crayton and the pass was incomplete.
Reeves got called for pass interference against Austin on a deep pass, Jones made a nice play by deflecting the ball on a comeback pattern by Hurd, then T.O. beat Butler for a catch. Bilbo beat Newman in another physical hand-fight battle for a catch, Henry had good coverage on Rabb and the pass was overthrown. Jefferson cooked Jones but dropped another pass, then Austin beat Thomas on a quick slant. Urban got the better of Butler on a deep pass and Newman had the coverage on Crayton for an incompletion.
They broke off for some kickoff practice then came back in an 11-on-11 drill.
Romo tried to hit Hoyte in the flats but Spencer had a good rush and forced Romo to throw the pass too high. Roy blitzed and Romo threw a quick pass to Witten, Hurd caught one on the sidelines in front of A. Glenn, then Romo had to scramble as the pocket collapsed. Romo finished with a short pass to Austin.
Johnson started by dumping it short to Austin because the rush was too strong, then hit Polite on a short pass, followed by a throw away because Ola Dagunduro had broken through with a good rush. Bartel got eaten up by Canty for a sack, the Ayodele blitzed through untouched for the sack.
Romo overthrew Witten down the middle and Roy made a diving INT for a beautiful play. T.O. dropped one along the sideline then came back to catch a short pass. Reeves broke up a deep pass intended for Hurd, then Roy and Ayodele blitzed from the same side, the RB picked up Roy but no one touched Ayodele for another sack. Austin then caught one in front of Henry.
Bartel came on and threw a short completion to Bilbo who had Newman draped all over him, then threw deep but Hamlin intercepted it, but A. Glenn pushed down the receiver, Rabb. Probably was pass interference.
More special teams work as they practiced punts, then back to 11-on-11. They started with the 1st team offense vs. the 2nd team defense.
Romo threw a pass too high off of T.O.’s outstretched hand, then ran a draw to JJ that did OK. Romo couldn’t time a deep pass intended for T.O., then Fasano had a nice catch-and-run down the middle. MB3 found room on a run up the middle, then he went through a huge hole on the left side and Watkins finally made the stop. Crayton beat Reeves in the back of the endzone for a TD, then MB3 had a short run for a TD behind a nice Doug Free block on Carpenter. Romo finished with a bootleg TD run that was actually supposed to be a pass to Hoyte, but he got caught up in traffic so Romo took it himself.
Johnson handed off to TT for a short run, Roy blitzed and got the sack, then Ware got a sack coming around the edge, followed by a TT run that went nowhere. Polite caught a short pass on a roll-out, TT had a short run, and Spears blocked Brad’s pass at the line of scrimmage. Battle found good yards through a big hole in the middle, then Brad tried to force a short one to Richardson but there was too much traffic. TT tried the middle but Ferguson and Ratliff stuffed it.
Moore came on but had to throw away his first pass because of pressure from Marcus Smith. Battle had a nice off-tackle run, Henry couldn’t hold on to an INT because Jefferson did a good job of playing defensive back, then Moore hit Adam Bergen on a short pass with Spencer in coverage. Battle had an OK run, then tired off-tackle again but Khari Long made the stop.
Romo got one more go and handed to Hoyte for a short run, then threw a pass that went off Crayton’s hands and John Saldi got the INT. Romo closed practice with a swing pass to MB3 then an MB3 run.
Over the past few days the defense has been running a lot of stunts and blitzes, including secondary blitzes from guys like Roy, Newman, Nate Jones and the offense has had a hard time picking them up.