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Well as the second week of training camp begins, the Cowboys decided to give Tony Romo an extra day off as part of his schedule. Ezekiel Elliott was also missing from practice and isn't likely to make his debut in this weekend's first preseason game with the Rams. However, the Cowboys did welcome back Tyrone Crawford to today's practice. Andrew Gachkar has made his way back to the team as he did conditioning work off to the side recovering from thumb surgery. Kyle Wilber also made his return to the gridiron after having tightness in his back last week.
Working off to side with the trainers were Benson Mayowa and Maliek Collins. Stephen Jones said it not out of the realm of possibility to see them get involved before they head back from Oxnard.
Speaking of the defense, they've been bringing it in practice and continued riding their momentum into today's practice.
In goal line work the defense won 5-3, keeping the offense out of the end zone. Officials missed neutral zone infractions on two plays
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) August 10, 2016
The Cowboys were practicing short-yardage and goal line drills. The defense started off red hot and continued to build through all strings of the team. Mark Nzeocha has certainly been coming along:
#Cowboys D with a couple goal-line stands. pic.twitter.com/edMcEbDx6A
— Drew Davison (@drewdavison) August 10, 2016
Just as we were wondering if we were ever going to get anything out of Kavon Frazier, he showed up in a big way today:
Kavon Frazier makes his first play of camp. Nice tackle to keep Keith Smith out of the end zone. pic.twitter.com/KtG0p6TF8G
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 10, 2016
Darius Jackson has turned some heads so far in these practices but it was Byron Jones who turned Jackson's head in today's goal line drills:
Goal line. Byron stuffs Darius. pic.twitter.com/fgof7m6KoO
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 10, 2016
It wasn't all defense as the offense had some great plays today with or without Tony Romo. The first and probably best was on a play where Dak Prescott found a wide open Dez Bryant:
Dak finds Dez wide open while the worst song in the world plays in the background. pic.twitter.com/ZrwbnB93dR
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 9, 2016
Though everyone surely expects a lot from Byron Jones, he's going to have to learn a few more tricks to stop the wily veteran Jason Witten.
Jason Witten takes Byron Jones to school in 1-on-1 in front of entire team: pic.twitter.com/DBvDpqOZZU
— Brandon George (@DMN_George) August 9, 2016
Terrance Williams also had a really nice sideline grab that let us know that he can use his hands too, not just his body to haul in passes.
Terrance Williams wins 1-on-1 vs. Josh Thomas: pic.twitter.com/3wKrgCBtjq
— Brandon George (@DMN_George) August 9, 2016
All in all, you have to be impressed with how this defense has responded after all the criticism they have received. It gets you excited to see how they do in the exhibition games as they prepare for the season. The last clip we will leave with you is a new nickname that we hope catches on during the season:
#AirplaneMo breaks up a ball intended for Dez. pic.twitter.com/xXzF7H6tmg
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 9, 2016
Stay tuned for the full report coming a little later...