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July, 27, 2010
By Calvin Watkins
SAN ANTONIO -- Wade Phillips wanted to see his team pick up the intensity for the second practice on Tuesday.
"I told them after the morning practice they're going to have to push themselves," Phillips said. "That's part of getting ready to play in the season and it's kinda of what you have to go through."
It was an interesting statement by Phillips with the Cowboys just four days into training camp that he feels his club has to avoid the training camp blues. Phillips addressed the team on Monday night and told them his feeling and reiterated it again on Tuesday morning.
"It takes hard work at this time," Phillips said. "You need to get in football shape and learn to carry the pads and move well and be in shape with the pads on and so I thought they pushed through it well this morning. It shows mental toughness and I told them that. If you can do it now, you can do it in the fourth quarter."
*The swelling in Felix Jones' swelling went down somewhat between practices. Phillips said Jones would miss the second practice, but he didn't. Following the second practice, Phillips said Jones felt a whole lot better. Prior to practice, Phillips talked with Jones and then associate athletic trainer Britt Brown. Jones said he felt fine and didn't know what the big deal was.
*Phillips noted his two outside pass rushers, Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Ware, might be the best in the NFL. "I've been lucky to be around a lot of good ones and lot of good tandems," Phillips said. "Just those guys there I think we have the two best in the league right now. Put those two guys together and I don’t think there’s any outside backers that are better than those two."
*The Cowboys finished tied for 27th in the league with just 21 takeaways. At the top of the list was Green Bay with 40, followed by New Orleans at 39 and Philadelphia with 38.
With such a good pass rush, it appears the Cowboys should force more turnovers, but they don't for whatever reason.
Why not?
"I think year-after-year, it will change as far as the number of turnovers," Phillips said. "You have to look at how many points they give up, that's an important thing. You make them punt more than anybody else in the league. Fourth down stops don't count as a turnover, every fourth down stop is a turnover and it doesn't count on the turnover stats. Our team had a lot of fourth-down stats and we stopped people. We got the ball back right there, just like you do on a turnover but it doesn't count, same thing with punts."
Phillips has a point here, but you would like to see the Cowboys get more turnovers and in the early stages of training camp the defense, mainly the secondary and linebackers are going after the ball.
By Calvin Watkins
SAN ANTONIO -- Wade Phillips wanted to see his team pick up the intensity for the second practice on Tuesday.
"I told them after the morning practice they're going to have to push themselves," Phillips said. "That's part of getting ready to play in the season and it's kinda of what you have to go through."
It was an interesting statement by Phillips with the Cowboys just four days into training camp that he feels his club has to avoid the training camp blues. Phillips addressed the team on Monday night and told them his feeling and reiterated it again on Tuesday morning.
"It takes hard work at this time," Phillips said. "You need to get in football shape and learn to carry the pads and move well and be in shape with the pads on and so I thought they pushed through it well this morning. It shows mental toughness and I told them that. If you can do it now, you can do it in the fourth quarter."
*The swelling in Felix Jones' swelling went down somewhat between practices. Phillips said Jones would miss the second practice, but he didn't. Following the second practice, Phillips said Jones felt a whole lot better. Prior to practice, Phillips talked with Jones and then associate athletic trainer Britt Brown. Jones said he felt fine and didn't know what the big deal was.
*Phillips noted his two outside pass rushers, Anthony Spencer and DeMarcus Ware, might be the best in the NFL. "I've been lucky to be around a lot of good ones and lot of good tandems," Phillips said. "Just those guys there I think we have the two best in the league right now. Put those two guys together and I don’t think there’s any outside backers that are better than those two."
*The Cowboys finished tied for 27th in the league with just 21 takeaways. At the top of the list was Green Bay with 40, followed by New Orleans at 39 and Philadelphia with 38.
With such a good pass rush, it appears the Cowboys should force more turnovers, but they don't for whatever reason.
Why not?
"I think year-after-year, it will change as far as the number of turnovers," Phillips said. "You have to look at how many points they give up, that's an important thing. You make them punt more than anybody else in the league. Fourth down stops don't count as a turnover, every fourth down stop is a turnover and it doesn't count on the turnover stats. Our team had a lot of fourth-down stats and we stopped people. We got the ball back right there, just like you do on a turnover but it doesn't count, same thing with punts."
Phillips has a point here, but you would like to see the Cowboys get more turnovers and in the early stages of training camp the defense, mainly the secondary and linebackers are going after the ball.