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Posted at 12:41 PM on Sun., Jul. 25, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Todd Archer / Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips
** The Cowboys were in full pads for on Sunday morning. We'll keep track of how many full pad workouts they have down here and differentiate that from just shoulder pads as we move forward.
** The punt game was the focus of the special teams' portion of practice. Dez Bryant, Patrick Crayton and Titus Ryan were the primary returners. Four guys worked at snapping the ball in pre-practice: L.P. Ladouceur, Scott Sicko, John Phillips and Marcus Dixon.
** I spent time focusing on the defensive backs during the individual drills. The cornerbacks worked on their technique in press coverage, dropping some while jamming the wide receiver with their right or left arm. The safeties worked mostly on assignments when the offense would motion, although I thought it was interesting they practiced making one-handed catches.
** With Keith Brooking out of the morning workout, Jason Williams and Sean Lee split time with the first-team defense.
** I'd give the edge on the first part of 9-on-7 to the defense. DE Jason Hatcher was disruptive. He looked to thwart Marc Colombo on back to back running plays. The biggest hit went to newcomer Brandon Sharpe, who popped Tashard Choice on what may have been his first snap. What's strange is that he is playing inside linebacker after playing defensive end at Tech. FB Deon Anderson lost his helmet in a collision with Bradie James.
** OT Alex Barron had a little more power than I expected and did a nice job on DeMarcus Ware a few times. He was really low in his pass sets, much lower than Flozell Adams would get. He moves pretty good.
** For the second straight practice Tony Romo opened with a deep ball. This time he went to Roy Williams. Orlando Scandrick had good coverage but the throw was too much to the inside with Williams running outside the numbers.
** Williams heard it from the fans on the fourth snap of team drills when he let a perfect Romo pass go through his hands on a comeback route. It didn't help Williams' cause that Dez Bryant had a strong run after the catch two plays earlier.
** RB Marion Barber's lean look has made him a lot quicker. He had a long gain on a cutback run to the right in which he talked some junk to the defenders. But it's still not the same as a the feeling you get when Felix Jones makes a cut. Jones does not have to decelerate to make a cut and he can get to top speed faster.
** Romo and Jason Witten make their money on the corner route. They can eat up defenses with it, but it was almost unfair Sunday because Witten caught one of those on Sharpe, who joined the team this morning. What might have went unnoticed on the play was Sean Lee talking to Sharpe about how to play the defense. Lee just has the look of a football player.
** The first-team offense had a little lull that started with an early snap from Andre Gurode that led to a false start, a false start by Jason Witten and then an early snap from Gurode again because he felt Steve Octavien had crossed the line of scrimmage. He was looking for an off-side flag.
**After slipping away from DeMarcus Ware on a waggle to his left and completing a pass to Kevin Brock, Jon Kitna blurted out, "Just like in '06," recalling his four-TD game vs. the Cowboys while with Detroit. Six plays later, Ware was in Kitna's face before the quarterback could set up after overpowering Robert Brewster. And that came two plays after an unblocked Anthony Spencer would have had an untouched sack of Kitna.
** Kitna's best throw of the morning was a go route down the sideline to Dez Bryant that drew a large cheer from the crowd. Mike Jenkins was in coverage and just missed making the deflection. Afterward Jenkins said he was attempting to bait the throw to give the perception Bryant was open but he didn't close fast enough.
** Undrafted quarterback Matt Nichols took his first team snaps since the rookie mini-camp. He had a nice completion to Terrell Hudgins off his back foot.
** LB Steve Octavien is still playing outside linebacker despite talk of him moving inside and he had a disruptive morning. He had two sacks/pressures of Stephen McGee in three snaps
Todd Archer / Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips
** The Cowboys were in full pads for on Sunday morning. We'll keep track of how many full pad workouts they have down here and differentiate that from just shoulder pads as we move forward.
** The punt game was the focus of the special teams' portion of practice. Dez Bryant, Patrick Crayton and Titus Ryan were the primary returners. Four guys worked at snapping the ball in pre-practice: L.P. Ladouceur, Scott Sicko, John Phillips and Marcus Dixon.
** I spent time focusing on the defensive backs during the individual drills. The cornerbacks worked on their technique in press coverage, dropping some while jamming the wide receiver with their right or left arm. The safeties worked mostly on assignments when the offense would motion, although I thought it was interesting they practiced making one-handed catches.
** With Keith Brooking out of the morning workout, Jason Williams and Sean Lee split time with the first-team defense.
** I'd give the edge on the first part of 9-on-7 to the defense. DE Jason Hatcher was disruptive. He looked to thwart Marc Colombo on back to back running plays. The biggest hit went to newcomer Brandon Sharpe, who popped Tashard Choice on what may have been his first snap. What's strange is that he is playing inside linebacker after playing defensive end at Tech. FB Deon Anderson lost his helmet in a collision with Bradie James.
** OT Alex Barron had a little more power than I expected and did a nice job on DeMarcus Ware a few times. He was really low in his pass sets, much lower than Flozell Adams would get. He moves pretty good.
** For the second straight practice Tony Romo opened with a deep ball. This time he went to Roy Williams. Orlando Scandrick had good coverage but the throw was too much to the inside with Williams running outside the numbers.
** Williams heard it from the fans on the fourth snap of team drills when he let a perfect Romo pass go through his hands on a comeback route. It didn't help Williams' cause that Dez Bryant had a strong run after the catch two plays earlier.
** RB Marion Barber's lean look has made him a lot quicker. He had a long gain on a cutback run to the right in which he talked some junk to the defenders. But it's still not the same as a the feeling you get when Felix Jones makes a cut. Jones does not have to decelerate to make a cut and he can get to top speed faster.
** Romo and Jason Witten make their money on the corner route. They can eat up defenses with it, but it was almost unfair Sunday because Witten caught one of those on Sharpe, who joined the team this morning. What might have went unnoticed on the play was Sean Lee talking to Sharpe about how to play the defense. Lee just has the look of a football player.
** The first-team offense had a little lull that started with an early snap from Andre Gurode that led to a false start, a false start by Jason Witten and then an early snap from Gurode again because he felt Steve Octavien had crossed the line of scrimmage. He was looking for an off-side flag.
**After slipping away from DeMarcus Ware on a waggle to his left and completing a pass to Kevin Brock, Jon Kitna blurted out, "Just like in '06," recalling his four-TD game vs. the Cowboys while with Detroit. Six plays later, Ware was in Kitna's face before the quarterback could set up after overpowering Robert Brewster. And that came two plays after an unblocked Anthony Spencer would have had an untouched sack of Kitna.
** Kitna's best throw of the morning was a go route down the sideline to Dez Bryant that drew a large cheer from the crowd. Mike Jenkins was in coverage and just missed making the deflection. Afterward Jenkins said he was attempting to bait the throw to give the perception Bryant was open but he didn't close fast enough.
** Undrafted quarterback Matt Nichols took his first team snaps since the rookie mini-camp. He had a nice completion to Terrell Hudgins off his back foot.
** LB Steve Octavien is still playing outside linebacker despite talk of him moving inside and he had a disruptive morning. He had two sacks/pressures of Stephen McGee in three snaps