DE Kenneth Boatright Taken To Nearby Hospital After Neck Injury In Practice | Dallas Cowboys
The scariest thing to see on a football field under any conditions is a player being strapped to a backboard and taken away in an ambulance. That is what happened to Kenneth Boatright. There are no reports on his condition, but there were tweets from the Dallas Cowboys practice that he was seen to be moving his legs. Our thoughts and prayers are with him. Hopefully this is not something major.
Jones said the Cowboys are still evaluating the tape from the play in question, but it appeared Boatright collided with left tackle Tyron Smith during the action.
"We were in an over front, and they ran a scoop block. I think the tackle hit his neck - kind of like a whiplash or whatnot," said Jeremy Mincey. "I don't know what's going on, I don't know the details. I just remember seeing him laying on the ground. We're going to pray for him and his family and hope he heals up."
There was also a far less significant bit of worry when Dez Bryant left the field after grabbing that "H" thing.
Grabbing his left ["H" word redacted], Bryant slowly walked to the other side of the field and had a long chat with a team doctor and then coach Jason Garrett. He didn't participate in the rest of practice.
"I'm OK," Bryant said as he headed to the locker room to have it checked out. "Nothing major."
What Cowboys Are Saying About RB Injuries " CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
The running back group was already thin, to the dismay of many, before Darren McFadden had his ["H" word redacted] problem. But Stephen Jones says the team is not panicking.
"We're just in no hurry there,'' he said of McFadden's ["H" word redacted] problem, "until everything there is 100-percent right.''
While some Cowboys fans continue to clamor for a acquisition of an aging "name'' back, Joe Randle will continue to take first-team snaps — a job he's in the process of winning. Youngsters Lache Seastrunk and Gus Johnson will likely get the bulk of carries in this weekend's Blue-White Scrimmage.
"I think,'' coach Jason Garrett said of the injuries Dallas hopes are short-term, "it gives the other guys more of an opportunity, the younger guys who will have a chance to play in the early preseason games, gives them a chance to get themselves that much more ready."
Lance Dunbar also has an ankle sprain, but good news on that front.
Lance Dunbar's ankle MRI came back negative
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 7, 2015
Can Joseph Randle be the pass protector DeMarco Murray was? | | Dallas Morning News
Joseph Randle is the leader at running back, partly by default due to McFadden's ["H" word redacted], but he is going to have to do more than just run the ball well. Jason Garrett thinks he is improving the necessary facet of his game.
"I think he's gotten better and better (in pass protection)," Garrett said. "If you want to play on three downs, you also need to have awareness in the passing game of protection, of being able to run routes. And typically guys coming out of school don't have that same exposure to those things that we're going to ask him to do. Joseph has worked hard from Day One since he's been here. I think he's improved in all those different areas."
Cowboys CB Claiborne: I want to stay in Dallas until I retire | FOX Sports
Morris Claiborne has had a rough time since coming to the Cowboys. Injuries have severely limited him. He is looking healthy and playing well so far, but it is going to be an uphill climb for him to get another contract.
"I'd love to stay here until I retire," Claiborne said. "It's a great place to be. I love the team. I love the staff. I love the coaches. This is where I want to be. And this is where I'm at now, so I'm going to give it all I've got. Like I said, let God handle the rest."
Along with God, the Cowboys front office will be handling the rest of Claiborne's time in Dallas. On April 30, Dallas selected Connecticut cornerback Byron Jones with their first round choice. To cast more uncertainty over Claiborne's future, the club declined to pick up the fifth-year option for Claiborne in early May. Three years after trading a first and second round pick for Claiborne, the Cowboys appear ready to part in 2016.
Byron Jones proving to be man of many talents - Dallas Cowboys Blog - ESPN
As mentioned above, Jones is one of the obstacles for Claiborne to overcome, and he is looking very good so far.
On Monday, Byron Jones lined up at three different spots on three consecutive plays. On the first play, he lined up over the tight end in the dime defense. On the second play, he was off the line of scrimmage as a free safety. On the third, he was outside at cornerback.
"Honestly, it's exciting," Jones said. "It's cool because whenever they move me around I feel like they're challenging me, like they're saying, ‘Hey, Byron, let's see what you got? Can you play the nickel? Can you play dime? Can you play safety? Can you play corner? All in one practice, so I accept the challenge."
Jameill Showers hoping the more he does the better his chances are - Dallas Cowboys Blog - ESPN
And on the other end of the depth chart, Jameill Showers is working on his own versatility.
"Typically you don't ask a quarterback to do some of the things we've asked him to do, but he's a really athletic guy," coach Jason Garrett said. "And he doesn't look like he's out of place at all in some of the special teams stuff we're asking him to do."
A year later, Ben Gardner making Cowboys take notice - Dallas Cowboys Blog - ESPN
Be still, our beating Ben Gardner loving hearts. He missed his rookie season due to injury, but he is back and making some noise this year.
"It's good to see him back out there," (Jason) Garrett said. "Last year was a little bit of a lost year for him, but I think he's better physically. I think he's quicker and stronger and more explosive. He's always kind of had this relentless nature to him and I think that shows up a little bit and maybe a little position flex as well, both end and down inside in some of the pass-rush situations. A long ways to go, he's part of those guys competing to make this football team, but he's off to a good start."
While Dez Bryant just keeps making one spectacular catch after another, the elusive Cole Beasley is almost impossible to cover so far in camp.
On if he's ever envious of Dez Bryant's body type when lining up next to him:
Beasley: "Not at all, man. I'm built how I'm built, and I know hoe to use it. I like playing how I play, and I'm a good space player. I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses, but just like Dez can do things I can't do, I can do things he can't do. So that's kind of the beauty of it. We all have different things that we bring to the table, and it works together well."
Former Cowboys DT Russell Maryland helps out at training camp | | Dallas Morning News
Charles Haley is off getting inducted into the Hall of Fame after spending time working with the current crop of rushmen, but the team has dipped into the deep pool of former Cowboys stars while he is gone. Russell Maryland joins a long list of former players to come help Jason Garrett with his process.
Garrett says his coaching staff embraces having an extra teacher on the field or in the meeting room.
"I think everybody understands what their role is," Garrett said. "We talk to our assistants about that. Rod Marinelli welcomes it. Rod Marinelli loves having Charles Haley around. He loves having Russell Maryland around. Whenever a new guy comes in, he always features the guy and talks about their career and has that guy talk."
And I'll just leave that alone.
Bob Sturm interviewed Rod Marinelli and came away with a truckload of good stuff, like this insight into his approach to keeping things simple for his players.
We talked about how chaotic it is to get defensive lineups out to match up with all the personnel groupings that offenses will throw at you. This is where he talked about simplicity and the idea to play fast and not have complicated schemes so that his players can play. He talked about how offenses now attack with speed and tempo, but run the same basic plays. So, he believes in countering with the same idea on defense and not clutter the heads of his men when a team is trying to get at them with tempo.
So there.
"The physical teams win," Garrett said. "The best teams I have been on were physical. That doesn't mean they weren't skillful. That doesn't mean they couldn't throw the ball, defend the pass, but they're physical. I think if you look at all sports, watch the NBA. The best players are physical. They're sturdy. They're strong. That goes really in any sport.
"That's part of our game. We want to have physical football players on our team. We want to play a physical style football. We want to be a highly-skilled football team. But the base of what we want to accomplish is to be a physical team that dominates the line of scrimmage."
It is a bit of a shame that Jerry Jones may not be there, given how instrumental he was in pushing Haley's case.
"Flying creates an issue,'' Jones said. "The air pressure, anybody will tell you that you have to keep an eye on the amount of flying and pressure."
Cowboys 2015 Training Camp: Extremely Premature Predictions
That guy over at About.com is spouting off again.
Tony Romo went all method on his commercial. Good call.
"It just kind of felt that way when I was on set, so I just took on that role a little bit. It kind of made it into what it is and Arts-and-Craftsy became a little paranoid Arts-and-Craftsy. It was pretty good."
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders TV show returns on CMT | Star-Telegram.com
Rejoice!