The holiday is over, time to get back to the Cowboys. We are six days away from the first regular season game against the New York Giants. Wade Phillips met with the press this afternoon, I went back and listened to it from the archive, and below are some notes on what Wade said, mainly about specific players.
For completeness sake: Matt Moore ended up in Carolina, Remi Ayodele with the Falcons, Lousaka Polite with Green Bay, Aaron Glenn with the Jaguars and Jerheme Urban in Arizona. If that's not correct or I left someone out, let me know.
Here’s Wade (paraphrased):
Terence Newman didn’t practice today, Wade said he’s walking better, but he’s not on the field yet. Like all guys not practicing, the team is working like they won’t be there, but the individual is working like they will be there on Sunday. Doesn’t know if Newman will play on Sunday.
Jacques Reeves will start if Newman doesn’t. He did well in preseason, stepped up in the last ball game. Solid player, safe; he’s got great speed.
When asked about Aaron Glenn being cut, he said the criteria they used is: can they start, could they start in future, their special teams value and also whether they have a specialty like nickel defender, nickel rusher, 3rd down receiver. He said Terence Newman is the starter, he might not be the first game, but he’ll be back soon. Then you go down the line using the criteria.
Terry Glenn did not do team stuff today but he did the other stuff. He might practice the whole practice on Wednesday. He’s not sure when Kevin Burnett will return to practice, he hopes sometime during the week. There’s a chance Burnett can play Sunday.
Nate Jones would be the nickel corner if Newman was out. He has value on special teams and he could play in the game if needed.
Without Greg Ellis, the linebacker depth looks different, but we picked up Justin Rogers, he was a good ST guy for New England, they will work him in. Without Kevin Burnett and Greg Ellis you drop off in depth but the guys we have are quality.
Ellis re-habbed today. Hoping he’ll get some pass rush in soon, if he does then he’ll be close to ready.
Nick Folk hardly missed any FG’s in practice and he made all in the games. Trying to make a team is pressure and under pressure he’s done good things. He consistently hits the ball, it goes straight and end-over-end. His kickoffs should improve, he could get them deeper if he flattened them out and he’s working on that.
Tyson Thompson and Miles Austin are the kick returners.
Anthony Spencer will start in place of Greg Ellis if he can’t go.
Ken Hamlin was a great addition and Roy Williams is a Pro Bowl player. People expect a lot of Roy, expectations are so high and sometimes people think he doesn’t do well. But I expect him to make a lot of plays. Hamlin will be the help-guy for the corners, so Roy’s role wouldn’t change without Newman playing.