Training Camp Thread...

Cotton

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Cotton

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Cotton

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Smitty

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Kid is gonna be a solid player. Take this to the Lance Frazier Bank and Trust and make a deposit. :art
 

BipolarFuk

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:tehj
 

Smitty

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Apparently Moe had a good day of practice. Would be great if this guy can even put together a year as a solid 3rd CB (though obviously on the outside with Scandrick moving inside when 3 CBs take the field).

I hated picking him more than just about anyone but if he can develop into a decent #2 CB still, that'd be huge and I'm obviously rooting for it to happen. It'd allow Jones to play FS and you'd have a very nice group of 4-5 CBs with Scandrick, Carr, Claiborne, White and Patmon.
 

Jiggyfly

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JUST CHILL: Ten Thoughts from Day 1 in Pads




BY CLARENCE E. HILL JR.
chill@star-telegram.com






Here are 10 quick hits from the Cowboys first day in pads:

1. Joseph Randle is a blur hitting the holes. He may have spoken out of turn with the “meat on the bone” comment. But was not off base in thinking he will rip off more big gainers than DeMarco Murray behind the Cowboys offensive line. He certainly gets the line of scrimmage and into the secondary much faster than Murray.

2. The Cowboys held receiver Dez Bryant out of one-on-one drills as a precaution, but they didn’t waste time going deep to him. Tony Romo threw four go routes to Bryant in team and 7-on-7 drills. They connected on just one, beating cornerback Orlando Scandrick. But it was certainly an example of the Cowboys planning to stretch the field more with Bryant.

“That’s just getting into the mix of things,” Bryant said. “It felt good running after the ball like that. The 9-route is fun. It’s the best route of the game. The best route in the playbook.”

Bryant added: “I was just knocking the rest off that’s all. You know I’m saying that as a joke though. It’s really no rust.”

3. Cornerback Morris Claiborne had a good first day. He didn’t go through one-on-one drills, as the team is being cautious in his return from knee surgery. But he made the best play of the day, a diving interception on a crossing route intended for Terrance Williams from Tony Romo. For a guy who claims he’s just trying to make the team, Claiborne made a solid impression.

4. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick, on the other hand, didn’t have a great day. He was burnt multiple times, including on the deep pass from Romo to Bryant. Williams also got the best of Scandrick on a go route during compete drill in front of the team.

5. Defensive end Greg Hardy got a rousing ovation, showing fans are willing to forgive him for his past issues. Guard Zack Martin did take him to the ground during one-on-one drills. But Hardy kept coming and will be a big part of the Cowboys rush when he returns from the four-game suspension. The most interesting development of the day happened on the last team drill when Hardy slid to the three-technique tackle spot next to defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford with second-year pro DeMarcus Lawrence and rookie Randy Gregory at ends.

“I have done guys like throughout my career,” defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “I had Julius Peppers like that. We try to matchup. He is a guy who can go inside and rush. And now that gives you Crawford and him inside and DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory outside to get our four best rushers on the field.”

6. Kicker Dan Bailey appears to be in mid-season form. He went six-for-six on field goals, connecting from 33, 37, 40, 35, 38 and 41 yards.

7. Rookie defensive end Randy Gregory was baptized by fire on the first day in pads as he had trouble not only getting by Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith but backup tackle Darrion Weems. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said Gregory will struggle early like most rookies as they realize the stuff they used in college won’t work at this level. But he said he like Gregory’s competitiveness and work ethic. He will just have to keep working on his craft.

8. Receiver Deontay Greenberry and Devin Street had good days catching the ball. Greenberry had a nice leaping catch in one-on-one drills against rookie first-round pick Byron Jones.

9. Tony Romo was “so so” in his first day back after sitting out Friday’s practice with a stye on his left eye. The good news is that Romo says his eye was all good. Of course, Romo’s average day was off set by the fact that he is practicing and ready to go in full pads with no real injury issues for the first time in three years.

10. In what was another major example of the changing of the guard in the front office, owner Jerry Jones sat in a tent and out of the way while vice president Stephen Jones took charge on the main stage at annual training camp opening ceremony with dignitaries from the city of Oxnard.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/cowboys-corner-blog/article29777959.html#storylink=cpy
 

Jiggyfly

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— TE battles. It’s very early, but right now Gavin Escobar is running as the second tight end. When the first offensive unit was in the 12 package, with two tight ends, Escobar was the on-the-line Y, while Jason Witten was the move tight end F-back. When the second unit took the field, James Hanna manned the Y role while Escobar shifted into Witten’s role as the F. Escobar also did a lot of flexing into the slot when he worked as the one tight end in the 11, three receiver package.
Interesting.
 

Jiggyfly

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http://cowboysnation.com/2015/08/old-school-saturday-cowboyscamp-day-3.html

Notes:

— How precise has Garrett’s pace been? Consider that he’s started at least 15 minutes earlier than the posted time every day. Today, the tutorials were underway 30 minutes prior to the posted 4 pm PT starting time. Garrett doesn’t want his team starting a drill at a prescribed time. He wants them ready to work at the prescribed time. Consider that with other coaches the horn would sound at 3:45 and the team would sprint from a central meeting point to their stations. Yesterday, the offensive linemen were all standing in position waiting for a drill to start at 3:44. The coaches had their hands on the ball ready to roll them towards the group. The instant the horn sounded, movement began. It’s been this way in every station, every day. Not a second is wasted.

— TE battles. It’s very early, but right now Gavin Escobar is running as the second tight end. When the first offensive unit was in the 12 package, with two tight ends, Escobar was the on-the-line Y, while Jason Witten was the move tight end F-back. When the second unit took the field, James Hanna manned the Y role while Escobar shifted into Witten’s role as the F. Escobar also did a lot of flexing into the slot when he worked as the one tight end in the 11, three receiver package.



— Another strong day at the office for Morris Claiborne. The tight press lessons have taken. He made one of the standout defensive plays in the final split 6-on-6 drill when he undercut a Terence WIlliams in-route, and dove across Williams’ body to make a lunging interception inches above the turf. He appears a lot more confortable with his hand usage. Unlike 2014 where he looked tentative, he’s much more confident riding receivers up the field with his hands in cover-3. His overall awareness appears much better. He’s the most aware corner on the team, meaning he can find a ball in the air better than any of his peers and is better able to make a play on a ball in the air than any other Cowboys corner.

— Randy Gregory needed Charles Haley’s tutorial and will need more because at this point, he’s a one-move rusher, that move being a hard charge around the edge. He had problems getting an effective get off early in the session, but recovered with some strong bursts later, beating a 3rd team OT for a sack.

— Conversely, 2nd year left end Demarcus Lawrence is miles ahead of his rookie pace. Those eye-popping and ear-popping drill performances carried over to real pad play. He beat Doug Free with an inside-outside rip move for a sack. This is a move he would not have made last summer.

— Another youngster making a jump is 3rd year flanker Terence Williams. He’s become much better at beating jams on the line, beating press coverage coming out of his breaks and runs much tighter routes than we’ve seen in the past. He’s always had deep speed, but he was creating separation regularly with technique today. He beat Brandon Carr regularly and gave Orlando Scandrick fits.



— Lance Dunbar may be the most complete back in camp. He does many things Joseph Randle does, only better. It’s too bad Dunbar’s size works against him. He’s a more player than Joseph Randle and is quicker. That precision won’t make him any bigger than 195 pounds, and that, unfortunately, will always limit Dunbar’s touches.

— Finally, we had a Rolando McClain sighting. The suspended middle linebacker did some light work on the bands with Darren McFadden.

Sean Lee— The first set of O-line, D-line duels went to the offensive line. The level of competition is closer, however than it was at this point last summer, when the duels were O-line walkovers.

— Starting weakside LB Sean Lee spent a day working on the bands with the trainers. Lee has been favoring an muscle issue that may be a groin strain. Whatever the problem, he’s looking like a player “with a dog that’s barking” that he’s been forced to acknowledge. That said, he should be back in action soon.
 
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Jiggyfly

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http://cowboysnation.com/2015/07/cowboys-camp-2015-day-1-speed-speed-speed.html

Notes:

— The drills are not the only aspect of the team that’s fast. The team, from top to bottom, is the fastest, most athletic Cowboys team I’ve seen since I started attending camps in 2005. The defensive line groups overall athleticism is a couple of levels better than it was two years ago. The same seems true of the secondary, where the cornerback group looks much deeper than it has been in years.

— Let’s track the secondary’s forgotten man a lot more closely. Morris Claiborne has the smoothest hips of any corner in camp. In one early drill Henderson put Claiborne, Orlando Scandrick and Brandon Carr together and had them work through change of direction drills together. Claiborne had the fastest reactions and best change of direction. He was glued to his opponents in the one-on-one drills.



Granted, there was no contact and Claiborne’s problems have always come when the full pads come on. He’s been flagged for being too aggressive in full scrimmages and he’s found himself nicked up far too often. (Full referee crews were here throwing flags today, so Claiborne will be found out if he goes back to his grabby ways.) Still, a team that is desperate for corner depth and skill will welcome a recovered Claiborne with open arms.

2015_Day1 123
DE Demarcus Lawrence shows his powerful punch.

— I get the Demarcus Lawrence pick fully now. Lawrence has bulked up to 265 pounds after a full off-season and showed eye-opening power in the D-line drills. He has the most powerful, violent hands in the group and made the blocking sled shake like no other when he slapped it. He has his cuts in sync with that violent hand slap and could be very effective against right tackles. We’ll get an early read in the next couple of days when the pads come on.

— We only got about 15-20 plays to see the full defense in action. Marinelli kept it very basic today, playing a base 4-3 against the offensives three wideout 11 package. That group had Sean Lee on the weakside, Anthony Hitchens as the Mike and Kyle Wilber on the strong side.



— It’s too early to draw conclusions, because most of the offense’s work was six-against-air and eleven-against-air, but 95% of the offense’s plays today were from one-back sets and roughly 70% of their plays were from three wide receiver sets.

— Newbie watch: former 1st round receiver A.J. Jenkins showed a tremendous burst off the line and in his breaks. The former 49er and Chief could make a strong run at the 4th receiver spot.
 

Jiggyfly

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Todd Archer @toddarcher
Cowboys will be looking for more down the line LB help. Justin Jackson has a torn ACL. Suffered in special teams walkthrough.
 

boozeman

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Todd Archer @toddarcher
Cowboys will be looking for more down the line LB help. Justin Jackson has a torn ACL. Suffered in special teams walkthrough.
Well, they ran out of guys they cut last year.
 

boozeman

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Good to see that Wilson is getting a lot of work, makes me feel better about the pick.
 

boozeman

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I was not saying it to be funny. It is not a lot different from what they did from time to time in camp last year.

And then there is this silly idea that whoa, Escobar will be a monster mismatch on the slot and whatever. Sorry, don't see it happening.

I just think he's not quite good enough to play him like a Jimmy Graham.

He might have great hands, but he does not control his body all that well. He looks awkward quite a bit.
 
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