Adam Jones doing it right, so far

I’ll give credit where credit is due. Adam Jones has been doing all the right things so far to insure that he’ll suit-up in the opening game. We’ve barely heard a peep out of him since we’ve gone into the dead zone. After the mini training-camp, players are pretty much on their own and if there was a time for AJ to stray, this would be it. Smooth sailing, so far.

It will take a while for AJ to lose the "so far" when people talk about the rehabilitation of his reputation. Saying "so far" is not the equivalent of Ed Werder saying "not yet" while playing a "gotcha" game with Tony Romo in an interview. "So far" is in the positive, as in "I’ve given you a clean slate although I’m not oblivious to your past, but so far, you’re looking good.""Not yet" is in the negative, it implies "not yet, but you just watch, it will probably happen." (And "Not Sure" is in the hilarious, as in a very underrated movie.)

Adam did have to testify before the grand-jury in the most notorious event of his past, the shooting at the Las Vegas club. But even that was a low-key, almost non-event, that passed with very little notice. Today, he makes the papers for a good cause and strikes another tiny blow to the "so far." He got together with a Dallas Maverick to buy some beds and furniture for four kids whose mother was really struggling to house the family. 

"It helped me keep that last thought in my mind: One more slip-up, you can be right back to the hood," Jones said. "Even though I’ve received millions of dollars, I’d give up my whole left leg to stay where I’m at. It’s a blessing. When you’re young and you get all that money, you take it for granted, and then you have a couple of setbacks and you see what life is really about."

Keep the left leg AJ, you just might need it in coverage.

Public relations move? Maybe partly, but does it really matter? Just by doing things like this and keeping his head down will lead to more positive news from our new corner. Breaking his old habits and forming some new ones is what he needs. And once you get into the good habits, how you got there is simply background.

Anthony Spencer is doing his part to help young athletes, although it isn’t totally altruistic. He’s part of a company that trains high school athletes to get better performance but they are also training the mind. 

"Just coming out here to give them some drills to do and help them during the offseason to make them better athletes and at the same time give them some responsibility and have good role models around is important.

"There is so much potential in Fort Wayne, athleticwise. It is about the decisions that kids make. That’s one of the biggest things I learned, especially during your high school years that mold you for the rest of your life."

What a difference an offseason can make. We did a lot of complaining about our secondary last year, and some of it was for good reason. Our depth turned out to be sub-par and injury did strike. But with a couple of additions, we’re now viewed as the #1 secondary in the league according to Scouts, Inc. We edged out the Raiders and the Eagles. 

The Cowboys have an outstanding group of athletes in their secondary with Terence Newman, Anthony Henry, Roy Williams and Ken Hamlin returning from last year. When you combine that group with the recent additions of Jones and rookie first-round draft pick Mike Jenkins, the Cowboys now have the type of depth that few other teams can match. They will have a tremendous amount of flexibility within their personnel packages to take advantage of each player's strengths while also being able to disguise coverages. Opposing quarterbacks will have to be smart and accurate to have success against this group. The talents of the secondary combined with the effective pass rush of the front seven will force opposing quarterbacks to make some quick decisions.

No love for Orlando Scandrick? Oh well, still nice to see stuff like that being written about our secondary.

Hat tip WB3forMB3 for this FanShot.

From the "It sounds good but what does it really mean" department. 

If I ran the Dallas Cowboys, I would make sure my offensive linemen left training camp in the best shape of their lives. Last year, late in the playoffs against the Giants, this line struggled to protect and it cost them their season. Training in Thousand Oaks is not always the best for getting in shape with the humidity. Two of the Cowboys' first four games will be played in humid conditions, Cleveland and Dallas, both with 4:15 starting times.

 Sounds good. Our o-line did appear to tire-out in the second-half of the playoff game causing all kinds of problems. But what does it really mean? How are the Cowboys going to train the o-line any different? I mean, it took all the way to the 17^th regular season game for this "tiring-out" to occur. Now you’re talking about two games in the first four of this year. Last year, under the same training regiment, no one would have said the o-line tired-out in those first games and cost us a win. Just doesn’t compute.

- Good Mel Renfro interview.

- Here’s a very long article in the USA Today about the Cowboys 2008 season. It covers the roster in pretty good detail and highlights some of the storylines going into 2008. Most of it you already know, but you might enjoy the read. 

- Interesting article about Jason Ferguson and the "South Beach Cowboys." Interesting, that is, if the name Parcells doesn’t cause you seizures. Here's Fergie on Parcells.

"One thing about Bill, if you haven't already noticed, he's got a story for every (situation). There's always been a guy who's been through something he's told you about. 'Oh, I had a guy who sprained his ankle 105 times . . . broke it in three places . . . and he played the next Sunday.' Yeah, sure he did.'"