Training Camp Thread...

Texas Ace

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Don't worry, Darren.

It'll happen in the regular season too.
 

Cotton

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Dallas Cowboys training camp ‘True or False’: Filtering reality from imaginary

Brandon George
OXNARD, Calif. – The Dallas Cowboys often live in a grey world. Not much is black and white.

Often times you have to read between the lines to figure out exactly what’s going on with the team.

Owner Jerry Jones often says just because he says it doesn’t mean it’s true. And even when Jones is speaking the truth, he tends to ramble and switch subjects. So following along at home can lead you down a wrong lane.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett isn’t a fan of telling you his plans. No, not game plans, but certain things that don’t put his team at a competitive disadvantage, such as how they’ll practice or who will practice on a given day.

So, I’ll try to decipher some of the mixed messages in a little game of “True or False.” Play along at home. Here we go:

Garrett said Wednesday at the opening press conference that he doesn’t have a pre-training camp plan for how much QB Tony Romo will practice. True or False?

False. Garrett said the same thing last year before training camp, and a plan was in place for how much Romo would practice. Romo followed the same script throughout training camp last year, not practicing more than two consecutive days. There’s no doubt that Garrett has a plan going into training camp for how much his 35-year-old quarterback who has had multiple back surgeries will practice. In fact, Romo said after the Thursday morning walk-through practice that he will indeed practice three consecutive days at times this training camp. Why wouldn’t Garrett just lay out the plan Wednesday? Garrett doesn’t deal with absolutes. So, if Garrett said up front what the plan is for Romo’s practice schedule and then Romo decides to take a rest day down the line that doesn’t match the schedule, the coach is asked a bunch of questions about why Romo isn’t practicing.

Jones and his son, Stephen, say they’re comfortable with the running backs they have in training camp and believe they can adequately replace DeMarco Murray. True or False?

True. Cowboys officials aren’t just giving this lip service. The Cowboys front office believes they can still thrive at running back with a combination of Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden and Lance Dunbar. But the Cowboys aren’t off to a good start. McFadden strained his hamstring a week ago running routes. This is a different hamstring injury (on the opposite leg) than the one that kept him out of offseason practices. Garrett said Thursday he expects McFadden back in about a week. Stephen Jones said the Cowboys were well aware of McFadden’s long injury history in Oakland before they signed him as a free agent and isn’t too concerned at this point. But if McFadden’s injuries linger or multiply, expect the Cowboys to add a veteran running back late in camp. For the time being, they want to give Randle, McFadden and Dunbar every chance to show they’re ready to replace Murray.

Jones, as has been his recent trend, wouldn’t say Wednesday that he believes the Cowboys are a Super Bowl contender, so he’s not confident this year’s team can compete for a title. True or False?

False. Behind closed doors, the Cowboys feel very much like they had a strong offseason and have added key pieces that should build on a 12-4 year in 2014 and put them in great position to compete for a Super Bowl this season. Jones has learned that saying Super Bowl early on does the Cowboys no favors, especially considering the title drought his team has been in since the mid-1990s.
 

Cotton

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Cotton

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For those that don't want to click on the link, he was asked what the chances are of the team signing Ray Rice.
 

Cotton

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He was asked if the team would consider bringing in Briggs to fill a LBer role.
 

L.T. Fan

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When did this happen?
 

mcnuttz

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L.T. Fan

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Last week
Yeah I ran across that in the thread. This worries me about McFadden. I don't know what he might have been doing last week to hurt himself but it seems too coincidental with training Camp start up to give me any comfort level on any reliance on him this season. It smells.
 

mcnuttz

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Cotton

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ravidubey

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Great. It's not even a re-aggravation of an old injury.
He may just be worse than Miles Austin.

I think global climate change is killing the Cowboys chances of signing anyone with hammy issues. They need to be in environments where they can stay hydrated.
 

1bigfan13

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:lol

So this is going to be the ongoing narrative.

The same could have been said going into camp last year Murray was injury prone as well.

Why must we always go to worst case scenario to prove a point.
Because it's a valid concconcern. And Murray is a bad comparison because at least Murray was a pro bowl RB heading into last season.

The 3 scrubs we're counting on this year haven't done much of anything that should give you faith that they can be counted on over a full season.
 

L.T. Fan

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Because it's a valid concconcern. And Murray is a bad comparison because at least Murray was a pro bowl RB heading into last season.

The 3 scrubs we're counting on this year haven't done much of anything that should give you faith that they can be counted on over a full season.
Hell yeah. Tell em man.
 

jsmith6919

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ravidubey

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Of all our running backs I'm most confident in Joseph Randle.

Lord help us that's how far we've fallen. Still the worst in the conference. Lache Seastrunk doesn't quite instill confidence.
 

townsend

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Of all our running backs I'm most confident in Joseph Randle.

Lord help us that's how far we've fallen. Still the worst in the conference. Lache Seastrunk doesn't quite instill confidence.
Yeah, we live or die with Randle's production, it seems like. McFadden and Dunbar seem more like guys that block and go out for passes than runners at this point, I bet they don't get more then 600 yards rushing between them.
 
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