Dallas Cowboys OTA leftovers

Some leftovers from today’s OTA and such.

Timmy Mac gives his impressions from today’s workout. Bullet point version: Sam Hurd good, Martellus Bennett had some rookie moments, Pat Crayton was on target, T.O. is teaching the kids and Wade Phillips doesn’t have an arm.

The Breerman also has his observations. Mike Jenkins has been the #3 CB and Terence Newman is moving to the slot, as usual. Jenkins has had some impressive practices. Danny Amendola is getting some work as a punt returner, Courtney Brown is trying to make his move, and Anthony Spencer was the man today.

Here’s a little more on Pacman’s status.

A quick report on some other, shall we say, lesser-known players. Orlando Scandrick returned to practice this week, Daniel Polk did not practice today with hamstring issues and Darrell Robertson is still recovering from surgery.

Now, for more of the Roy Saga, if you’re interested in that type of thing!

First, Terence Newman clarified, but didn’t exactly retract his comments about Roy the other day. The "deer in the headlights" comment drew the most attention, but Newman says he didn’t mean that Roy was always like that. 

"It's hard to find a DB who hasn't had a bad day. That's all I'm saying. It happens. The same thing was said to me my second year. I didn't say anything about it. I didn't play very well. At times, I looked like a deer in the headlights. I mean, that was Bill Parcells' comments. I'm not going to argue, I was bad."

 He also says he and Roy are cool.

On the other hand, Wade Phillips was busy defending his starting strong safety. 

"The only thing is, for my players and guys on my team, I hate to see guys get bashed," Phillips said. "It's kind of been a Roy Williams bash here for some reason. Roy did not give up a deep pass last year - not one. I don't know if you can say that in previous seasons, because I wasn't here then, but he did not give up a deep pass."

Meanwhile, Roy was receiving a lot of attention on the field today. 

Roy Williams got a whole lot of 1-on-1 love during today's workout. Secondary coach Dave Campo, safeties coach Brett Maxie, defensive coordinator Brian Stewart and owner/GM Jerry Jones all spent significant time chatting up the perennial Pro Bowl safety/media dartboard.

And to cap off the Roy news, JJT has this quote from a rival team. 

"First, he's not as bad in coverage as everyone thinks. He has some flaws, but the Cowboys don't do a good job of keeping those hidden and they expose him, especially in quarters (cover 4), where he sometimes has to cover a receiver 40 yards down the field. He's much better underneath, where even if he gets beat, there's plenty of help behind him to keep it from being a big play.

"Roy can be good in coverage because he's been good in the past. But he has to be technically sound. Too many times, he's not. He doesn't stay low enough in his backpedal and he has stiff hips. If he's low, then he can quickly get in and out of breaks and stay with the man he's covering.

"He also needs to do more film study, because he's not an instinctive player. The more he studies, the more familiar he can become with different route combinations and the more he can anticipate certain routes given the down and distance."

And so it goes…