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Cowboys Camp Report, Day Three: The Kids Pad Their Chances
Posted by Rafael at Wednesday, August 01, 2012
The pads came on today the team held a spirited three-hour practice that showed some positions of concern may not be so dire, while some others may be getting thin -- for now.
On offense, the unsung receiving corps showed some life, and some depth. Miles Austin made the most spectacular catch of the day, leaping to snag a Tony Romo floater out of the slot between slot back Mario Butler. His counterpart, Dez Bryant, continues to channel the anger and angst of his pre-camp legal problems into his game. He's been the bull of the passing game, a hard-charging beast no corner can stop off the line and whom few can contain once he's down the field. He's been the most dangerous weapon of this short camp. Hope that Dez maintains focus because he's building towards a big year.
Behind them, the unknowns have moved from the "perhaps" to the "promising" category. Second year wideout Dwayne Harris runs as the first option in the teams' Ace (3 WR) sets these days and looks faster than he did as a rookie. He's shown more down-field burst and better skills at beating the jam off the line of scrimmage.
Today, Raymond Radway shook off the rust of two so-so days, and a frustrating first hour, where he mis-communicated with Rudy Carpenter on a deep out route, to notch the biggest "ooh" play of the day. Radway burned Morris Claiborne on a deep post in the final 11-on-11 scrimmage. Radway showed more confidence later in the day and may be regaining his bearings after his awful pre-season ending leg injury from 2011.
Meanwhile, first-day sensation Tim Benford continues to make plays. He's working mostly out of the slot in the Ace packages and made a leaping over-the-middle grab in an early 11-on-11 when the 2nd and 3rd units were battling. Like Radway, he burst wide open on a deep ball late, but lost it in the sun.
In all, the wide receiver position is no longer the black hole it appeared to be last week. It's too early to declare the understudies success stories, but they are where they need to be three days in.
On the other hand, the offensive line continues to absorb nicks and strains which are testing its depth. Projected right guard Mackenzy Bernardeau continues to rehab on the far sideline with trainer Britt Brown, though he appears very close to dressing. (He did a series of high speed sprinting and agility drills today which suggest that his surgically repaired hip is not far away from being cleared for play.)
Bernardeau's fellow free agent guard Nate Livings went down today with a hyper-extended knee. Early reports hinted that the injury is not serious. The team has also lost backup center Bill Nagy with an ankle injury, so the interior line was manned late in the day by 2nd year guard David Arkin and rookie Ron Leary. Arkin got some praise from line coach Bill Callahan early in the day for his zone blocking technique, but is still a work in progress. He's an erratic player at the moment, who can win one play but whiff on the next. Arkin looks stronger than 2011 and may settle in given more reps. He'll certainly get a lot of them this week.
Another story from pad day one was the strong play of the defensive rookies. The number one pick Claiborne had an up-and-down afternoon, winning some big duels against Dez Bryant but losing some against fellow youngsters Radway and Harris. His day was summed up by a play where Claiborne leaped high to tip a Tony Romo fade, only to see the ball snatched out of the air by the falling Harris. Claiborne has the raw skills and the resiliency, but he needs a lot of reps. He continues to increase his physical tone, and is getting better with his off-the-line jams.
Claiborne's fellow draftees made some plays in the kids-vs.-kids scrimmages from the session's first hour. DE Tyrone Crawford looks like a player. He's still raw, but showed a burst off the football in drills and carried this over into the scrimmage. He beat Jeff Adams for one sack and whizzed by Arkin in a late drill for a "phantom sack." (The rushers are instructed to run past the QB and tap him, to prevent needless hits and possible injuries.)
Undrafted free agent Adrian Hamilton made some big plays in that same scrimmage and showed some intriguing speed and change of direction in a late-practice rushing drill, where the rushers and offensive linemen went one-on-one. Hamilton alternated between strong side DE in the Cowboys' nickel four-man line and outside linebacker in the base 3-4. Hamilton played with his hand down at Prairie View A&M and looks comfortable in this role, especially when matched up against right tackles.
In the first scrimmage, Hamilton lined up at right end and beat guard Levy Adcock on an inside stunt. Later in that scrimmage, Hamilton shadowed the quarterback while playing OLB and knocked down a pass that was headed into the right flat.
Late in the day, Hamilton flashed some smooth moves at Adams and starter Doug Free. In a one-on-one drill where an individual rusher faces a single blocker, Hamilton started upfield on Adams and used an inside spin to leave the tackle grasping for air. On his next rep, Hamilton used a straight outside-inside counter to freeze Free and slide towards the quarterback. Hamilton shows the ability to change directions at speed and displayed a wider repertoire than he showed in his college All-Star games. It appears he's taking to coaching quickly and deserves more attention from fans in the pre-season games.
Notes:
-- Screens and more screens. The Cowboys offense continues to run a variety of quick screens to its backs in drills.
-- No screens: the defenses were clearly ahead of the offenses in the full scrimmages today. Rob Ryan's guys stopped most of the screens, be they tailback screens, tight end screens or flanker screens. Orlando Scandrick, DeMarcus Ware and Teddy Williams defused three consecutive screen calls mid-session.
-- The drag-and-fly effect. Dallas practiced a nifty play where the offense put two tight ends on one side of the field, dragged one underneath the line on a fake counter, then sent him deep up the seam, while the quarterback rolled to the opposite side on an apparent boot-leg pass.
It all looked good against air, but Ryan's guys had the tight end smothered in double-coverage when it was run live.
-- No worries: Sean Lee also sniffed out a screen, and is his automatic self. He's going to spoil the Cowboys faithful, if he hasn't already.
-- Making a push: Justin Taplin-Ross showed a lot of special teams moxie on Tuesday. Today, 2nd-year fullback Shaun Chapas made a case with a loud block on a punt return drill. He's running behind new signing Lawrence Vickers, who showed some very strong pop on edge runs today. If Chapas wants to earn a promotion from the practice squad to the final 53, more hits like today's will help his case.
-- Still making plays: linebacker Orie Lemon knocked down another pass. He had a pick six on day one and got his hands on a football yesterday. He's another guy who keeps getting himself noticed.
-- Chicken soup for the safety soul: Barry Church continues to take advantage of Brodney Pool's absence. Church made a diving breakup of a Romo pass for Jason Witten today. Like Lemon, he's making at least one big play ever day, and Church is doing it against the starters.
-- Still the one: the Cowboys would love to move Austin out of the slot in the Ace set, but none on the youngsters appear ready to make a push here. Benford is the closest and he's far from a sure thing.
Posted by Rafael at Wednesday, August 01, 2012
The pads came on today the team held a spirited three-hour practice that showed some positions of concern may not be so dire, while some others may be getting thin -- for now.
On offense, the unsung receiving corps showed some life, and some depth. Miles Austin made the most spectacular catch of the day, leaping to snag a Tony Romo floater out of the slot between slot back Mario Butler. His counterpart, Dez Bryant, continues to channel the anger and angst of his pre-camp legal problems into his game. He's been the bull of the passing game, a hard-charging beast no corner can stop off the line and whom few can contain once he's down the field. He's been the most dangerous weapon of this short camp. Hope that Dez maintains focus because he's building towards a big year.
Behind them, the unknowns have moved from the "perhaps" to the "promising" category. Second year wideout Dwayne Harris runs as the first option in the teams' Ace (3 WR) sets these days and looks faster than he did as a rookie. He's shown more down-field burst and better skills at beating the jam off the line of scrimmage.
Today, Raymond Radway shook off the rust of two so-so days, and a frustrating first hour, where he mis-communicated with Rudy Carpenter on a deep out route, to notch the biggest "ooh" play of the day. Radway burned Morris Claiborne on a deep post in the final 11-on-11 scrimmage. Radway showed more confidence later in the day and may be regaining his bearings after his awful pre-season ending leg injury from 2011.
Meanwhile, first-day sensation Tim Benford continues to make plays. He's working mostly out of the slot in the Ace packages and made a leaping over-the-middle grab in an early 11-on-11 when the 2nd and 3rd units were battling. Like Radway, he burst wide open on a deep ball late, but lost it in the sun.
In all, the wide receiver position is no longer the black hole it appeared to be last week. It's too early to declare the understudies success stories, but they are where they need to be three days in.
On the other hand, the offensive line continues to absorb nicks and strains which are testing its depth. Projected right guard Mackenzy Bernardeau continues to rehab on the far sideline with trainer Britt Brown, though he appears very close to dressing. (He did a series of high speed sprinting and agility drills today which suggest that his surgically repaired hip is not far away from being cleared for play.)
Bernardeau's fellow free agent guard Nate Livings went down today with a hyper-extended knee. Early reports hinted that the injury is not serious. The team has also lost backup center Bill Nagy with an ankle injury, so the interior line was manned late in the day by 2nd year guard David Arkin and rookie Ron Leary. Arkin got some praise from line coach Bill Callahan early in the day for his zone blocking technique, but is still a work in progress. He's an erratic player at the moment, who can win one play but whiff on the next. Arkin looks stronger than 2011 and may settle in given more reps. He'll certainly get a lot of them this week.
Another story from pad day one was the strong play of the defensive rookies. The number one pick Claiborne had an up-and-down afternoon, winning some big duels against Dez Bryant but losing some against fellow youngsters Radway and Harris. His day was summed up by a play where Claiborne leaped high to tip a Tony Romo fade, only to see the ball snatched out of the air by the falling Harris. Claiborne has the raw skills and the resiliency, but he needs a lot of reps. He continues to increase his physical tone, and is getting better with his off-the-line jams.
Claiborne's fellow draftees made some plays in the kids-vs.-kids scrimmages from the session's first hour. DE Tyrone Crawford looks like a player. He's still raw, but showed a burst off the football in drills and carried this over into the scrimmage. He beat Jeff Adams for one sack and whizzed by Arkin in a late drill for a "phantom sack." (The rushers are instructed to run past the QB and tap him, to prevent needless hits and possible injuries.)
Undrafted free agent Adrian Hamilton made some big plays in that same scrimmage and showed some intriguing speed and change of direction in a late-practice rushing drill, where the rushers and offensive linemen went one-on-one. Hamilton alternated between strong side DE in the Cowboys' nickel four-man line and outside linebacker in the base 3-4. Hamilton played with his hand down at Prairie View A&M and looks comfortable in this role, especially when matched up against right tackles.
In the first scrimmage, Hamilton lined up at right end and beat guard Levy Adcock on an inside stunt. Later in that scrimmage, Hamilton shadowed the quarterback while playing OLB and knocked down a pass that was headed into the right flat.
Late in the day, Hamilton flashed some smooth moves at Adams and starter Doug Free. In a one-on-one drill where an individual rusher faces a single blocker, Hamilton started upfield on Adams and used an inside spin to leave the tackle grasping for air. On his next rep, Hamilton used a straight outside-inside counter to freeze Free and slide towards the quarterback. Hamilton shows the ability to change directions at speed and displayed a wider repertoire than he showed in his college All-Star games. It appears he's taking to coaching quickly and deserves more attention from fans in the pre-season games.
Notes:
-- Screens and more screens. The Cowboys offense continues to run a variety of quick screens to its backs in drills.
-- No screens: the defenses were clearly ahead of the offenses in the full scrimmages today. Rob Ryan's guys stopped most of the screens, be they tailback screens, tight end screens or flanker screens. Orlando Scandrick, DeMarcus Ware and Teddy Williams defused three consecutive screen calls mid-session.
-- The drag-and-fly effect. Dallas practiced a nifty play where the offense put two tight ends on one side of the field, dragged one underneath the line on a fake counter, then sent him deep up the seam, while the quarterback rolled to the opposite side on an apparent boot-leg pass.
It all looked good against air, but Ryan's guys had the tight end smothered in double-coverage when it was run live.
-- No worries: Sean Lee also sniffed out a screen, and is his automatic self. He's going to spoil the Cowboys faithful, if he hasn't already.
-- Making a push: Justin Taplin-Ross showed a lot of special teams moxie on Tuesday. Today, 2nd-year fullback Shaun Chapas made a case with a loud block on a punt return drill. He's running behind new signing Lawrence Vickers, who showed some very strong pop on edge runs today. If Chapas wants to earn a promotion from the practice squad to the final 53, more hits like today's will help his case.
-- Still making plays: linebacker Orie Lemon knocked down another pass. He had a pick six on day one and got his hands on a football yesterday. He's another guy who keeps getting himself noticed.
-- Chicken soup for the safety soul: Barry Church continues to take advantage of Brodney Pool's absence. Church made a diving breakup of a Romo pass for Jason Witten today. Like Lemon, he's making at least one big play ever day, and Church is doing it against the starters.
-- Still the one: the Cowboys would love to move Austin out of the slot in the Ace set, but none on the youngsters appear ready to make a push here. Benford is the closest and he's far from a sure thing.
