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Tony Romo's sore shoulder not a concern for Cowboys
Posted Sunday, Aug. 01, 2010
By Jan Hubbard
jhubbard@star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Although a quarterback with a sore arm would not seem to be reason to celebrate, Tony Romo said no one should be alarmed.
Wade Phillips didn't seem concerned and said now is the time for tough men to assert themselves.
Romo didn't seem limited in the afternoon practice Sunday but said afterward that he had soreness in his arm from the 10 practices he has participated in since training camp began.
But Romo said it is not unusual to have some pain during camp.
"You never know when this is going to happen schedule-wise and the amount you are throwing," Romo said. "But it's all part of being here. You have to know that and work through it. Use a little more legs."
Phillips said Romo is not the only one who is tired.
"We definitely are in training camp mode," the Cowboys' coach said. "What you try to do training camp-wise is wear down the players mentally and physically and then build them back. That's part of the process.
"I think we're a little bit tired right now physically. [Saturday], especially I think they were sore and tired and their arms were a little weary, but that's what you have to go through. You have to bounce back from that or fight through that; that's a part of the training it takes to build a football team."
Romo said he expects the soreness to be temporary.
"It's usually about a two- or three-day thing and you can kind of get back a little bit and go from there," Romo said. "It's part of every season and I'm sure every quarterback goes through it."
From third to first
For the second time in five days, Wade Phillips gave most of the veterans the morning off. The Cowboys have had two practices on five of the nine days they have been here, but the veterans have participated in the morning practice only three of those days.
Quarterbacks Tony Romo and Jon Kitna were not at the morning practice, which meant that third-stringer Stephen McGee received most of the snaps.
"It's a huge help not only for me, but for everybody in our huddle, just to get to rep some of the plays that we don't ever get to run," said McGee, the former Texas A&M quarterback. "Going into the game against Cincinnati [on Sunday] we hopefully got to walk through at least a lot of the plays and get to see a bunch of different blitzes and pressures."
McGee was not active for any regular-season game last year. He did throw a TD pass in a preseason game, but then had a sprained ligament in his right knee and missed the last two preseason games.
They love their LBs
Linebackers continue to impress in camp, and one of the major surprises is Leon Williams, a fourth-year player who was released after last season by the Browns.
"When he first came in, we said, 'This guy may not be able to help us at all,'" Wade Phillips said. "But he has adapted and he has worked and studied hard.
"He had trouble playing the run and the pass starting out in [off-season workouts]. He got better and better with the run and we said, 'Well the guy looks pretty good in the running game, but the guy is lost in our passing game.' Now he is playing the pass well, and he can really grunt. We don't go live, but we hit pretty good. So I think he has earned the respect of his teammates on offense and defense as far as being physical."
Good answer
When asked Sunday how close the Cowboys were to being ready for the preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Wade Phillips -- not normally a comedian -- said: "We're about a week away, I think."
And then he paused for comedic effect because the Cowboys were exactly seven days from the game.
Posted Sunday, Aug. 01, 2010
By Jan Hubbard
jhubbard@star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Although a quarterback with a sore arm would not seem to be reason to celebrate, Tony Romo said no one should be alarmed.
Wade Phillips didn't seem concerned and said now is the time for tough men to assert themselves.
Romo didn't seem limited in the afternoon practice Sunday but said afterward that he had soreness in his arm from the 10 practices he has participated in since training camp began.
But Romo said it is not unusual to have some pain during camp.
"You never know when this is going to happen schedule-wise and the amount you are throwing," Romo said. "But it's all part of being here. You have to know that and work through it. Use a little more legs."
Phillips said Romo is not the only one who is tired.
"We definitely are in training camp mode," the Cowboys' coach said. "What you try to do training camp-wise is wear down the players mentally and physically and then build them back. That's part of the process.
"I think we're a little bit tired right now physically. [Saturday], especially I think they were sore and tired and their arms were a little weary, but that's what you have to go through. You have to bounce back from that or fight through that; that's a part of the training it takes to build a football team."
Romo said he expects the soreness to be temporary.
"It's usually about a two- or three-day thing and you can kind of get back a little bit and go from there," Romo said. "It's part of every season and I'm sure every quarterback goes through it."
From third to first
For the second time in five days, Wade Phillips gave most of the veterans the morning off. The Cowboys have had two practices on five of the nine days they have been here, but the veterans have participated in the morning practice only three of those days.
Quarterbacks Tony Romo and Jon Kitna were not at the morning practice, which meant that third-stringer Stephen McGee received most of the snaps.
"It's a huge help not only for me, but for everybody in our huddle, just to get to rep some of the plays that we don't ever get to run," said McGee, the former Texas A&M quarterback. "Going into the game against Cincinnati [on Sunday] we hopefully got to walk through at least a lot of the plays and get to see a bunch of different blitzes and pressures."
McGee was not active for any regular-season game last year. He did throw a TD pass in a preseason game, but then had a sprained ligament in his right knee and missed the last two preseason games.
They love their LBs
Linebackers continue to impress in camp, and one of the major surprises is Leon Williams, a fourth-year player who was released after last season by the Browns.
"When he first came in, we said, 'This guy may not be able to help us at all,'" Wade Phillips said. "But he has adapted and he has worked and studied hard.
"He had trouble playing the run and the pass starting out in [off-season workouts]. He got better and better with the run and we said, 'Well the guy looks pretty good in the running game, but the guy is lost in our passing game.' Now he is playing the pass well, and he can really grunt. We don't go live, but we hit pretty good. So I think he has earned the respect of his teammates on offense and defense as far as being physical."
Good answer
When asked Sunday how close the Cowboys were to being ready for the preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Wade Phillips -- not normally a comedian -- said: "We're about a week away, I think."
And then he paused for comedic effect because the Cowboys were exactly seven days from the game.
