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Cowboys Blogs
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Troy Aikman says he was joking when he told TMZ that he would appear on Dancing with the Stars "next year." After his "joke" became news, Aikman tweeted that he would, in fact, not be on DWTS, because it "interferes with American Idol auditions."
It seemed unrealistic and unlikely that Aikman would have appeared on the reality show in September since he is busy as a football analyst with Fox. Aikman's former teammates Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith have previously appeared on DWTS, with Smith winning in 2006.
Mat McBriar has taken every hold so far in training camp and that's by design. Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis wants David Buehler as comfortable with McBriar as possible.
Last year, McBriar lost his job after Nick Folk lost his confidence in him. McBriar took the blame for some of Folk's misses last year because he wanted to be a good teammate and deflect criticism from Folk. In truth, the holds were not that bad.
Receivers coach Ray Sherman said the Cowboys have potentially the best receiver corps he's ever worked with.
And that's saying something since Sherman has coached Jerry Rice in San Francisco, Randy Moss, Chris Carter and Jake Reed in Minnesota and Javon Walker and Donald Driver in Green Bay.
The Cowboys are not there yet but a group that includes Miles Austin, Roy Williams, Dez Bryant and Patrick Crayton could be better than them all.
The Cowboys have yet to work on either the punt or kickoff return game, but you get the feeling special teams coach Joe DeCamillis can't wait.
As well as Dez Bryant has performed as a receiver through the early part of training camp, DeCamillis has high hopes for the first rounder as a return man, too. Bryant averaged 19.6 yards per punt return at Oklahoma State to go with three touchdowns. He had fewer kick return attempts but averaged 23.8 yards a return.
The morning practice is what head coach Wade Phillips called a "teaching session'' to go over assignments with the backup players.
At one point, Phillips saw the need to stop practice and call everyone together.
"Yeah, I imparted something,'' Phillips said. "I think they all got the message. I do that every once in awhile if there is something I think is important that everyone needs to know. That was one of those cases.''
Second-year linebacker Victor Butler has made an impression these last few days of Cowboys training camp.
"Talk about turning the light on,'' linebackers coach Reggie Herring said. "In the last three days, all of a sudden he's starting to rush the passer better than he ever has.''
He needs to. The competition at backup linebacker is pretty stiff. Butler, Brandon Williams, Steve Octavien and Curtis Johnson are battling for two, possibly three spots. A very good player is going to be left out.
Rookie linebacker Sean Lee talks about teammate Keith Brooking and the transition from the college to the pro game:
** This will be a shorter than normal observation deck because the practice was done at jog-through speed and many of the veterans did not participate.
Rookie linebacker Sean Lee sat out his third straight practice, although the recently completed morning session was a light one, with a quadriceps strain.
The Cowboys are being cautious with Lee so it does not develop into something more severe. The second round pick admits he hates to watch practice, especially after suffering a serious knee injury in 2008.
"I'm hoping it's as soon as possible," Lee said of his return. "Whenever the doctors say I can go, I'm going to go full go, which I don't feel will be too long."
The defensive line has been hit pretty hard by injuries so far in camp, leaving the unit pretty thin. Jason Hatcher (elbow), Sean Lissemore (groin), Josh Brent (hand) and Lorenzo Washington (hamstring) are out right now, leaving them with six healthy guys up front.
The Cowboys could make a roster move today to help with the depth.
Cracking the top six on this unit could be tough. The top five are set: Marcus Spears, Jay Ratliff, Igor Olshansky, Hatcher and Stephen Bowen and Junior Siavii has done a nice job early in camp.
Picked up pieces through eight practices:
** It looks like the offense could look to stretch the field more vertically than ever. They are attempting a lot of deep balls early in camp. Now, Tony Romo has always had a high yards per attempt (8.2 last year) but some of the route combinations look a lot like what New Orleans does.
*Defensive end Lorenzo Washington's chances of making the 53-player roster aren't good. It's hard to make the club in the tub, as Jimmy Johnson used to say. When you're a rookie free agent, you have to be on the field. Washington hasn't been. He's been rehabbing a hamstring injury. He tried to come back yesterday and had a set back.
*Tony Romo better not get hurt. Jon Kitna has taken a lot of snaps in the NFL. But he turns 38 in September, and he didn't take a snap last year. Stephen McGee is a long way from being ready, if he's ever going to be ready.
Stephen McGee doesn't get much work in these practice sessions.
Wednesday was the exception. Tony Romo was given the morning off, allowing McGee and Jon Kitna to split the majority of the work at quarterback with a few snaps thrown in for Matt Nichols.
In the words of head coach Wade Phillips, the former Texas A&M quarterback looked fine.
"It was great,'' McGee said. "I was excited to get out there, get some reps and get in the huddle and take charge of the guys that we had out here today.
The Cowboys deal with San Antonio run through next year, but the club has had discussions about extending the deal this week.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones said nothing was imminent, but the team has liked its time in San Antonio. The last three years the Cowboys have held part of training camp in San Antonio they have made the playoffs (2003, 2007, 2009) and the coaches believe the temperatures inside the Alamodome allow for more work to be completed.
"Anytime you have a partnership like we have with San Antonio we always visit about the future," Jones said.
We have a poll that you can vote in to determine who you think has embarrassed the Cowboys the most.
However, we were limited in the amount of space we had and have a lot more options to choose from. So we thought we would open this up to Cowboys fans and non-Cowboys fans alike.
Who do you feel has embarrassed the Cowboys the most? Jerry Jones? Barry Switzer? Adam Pacman Jones? Lance Rentzel? Any of the candidates in the poll? Give us your choices and your defense for your choice. If we get a nice collection of thoughtful comments, we might feature some of them.
The Dallas Cowboys will host the Silver and Blue Debut at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 10 at Cowboys Stadium. This is a Cowboys practice that is free and open to the public. There will also be performances by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m., with a Dallas Cowboys alumni and cheerleaders autograph session. Practice begins at 5:30 p.m.
Parking lots will open at 1:30 p.m.; cost is $10 per vehicle.
-- Tracey Myers
I took a little video earlier today on Dave Campo, who talked about cornerback Mike Jenkins' progress.
Ray Sherman is in his 24th year in the NFL as an assistant coach and fourth with the Cowboys. He has coached some of the game's best wide receivers - Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Cris Carter, John Taylor, Terrell Owens - but he says the group he has this year is the most talented he's had.
"I think we've got a little more talent than we had in Minnesota, little more than I had in Green Bay and even in San Francisco," Sherman said. "Overall, talent-wise as a group. Now we had some individuals that were very talent but overall talent is probably the best."
With veterans given a break, No. 3 quarterback Stephen McGee took the majority of snaps during the Dallas Cowboys' morning practice on Wednesday at the Alamodome.
Because of his spot on the pecking order, McGee receives minimal work during full-squad practices. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said a practice such as the morning session is vital to McGee's development.
``Any time you can get a young quarterback running the offense, it's good,'' Garrett said. ``
Then, there were three...
Troy Aikman told TMZ he will compete in "Dancing with the Stars" next year. It is unclear what "next year" means, but the next competition begins in September. He would compete the Tripletts' appearances on the show. Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin both have appeared on the reality show, with Smith winning it in 2006.
Aikman is the top football analyst at Fox.
-- Charean Williams
TMZ reported that former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman would appear on this fall's Dancing with the Stars competition on ABC.
When asked if he was doing Dancing with the Stars, Aikman said in an e-mail to The Dallas Morning News, "heavens no."
Aikman is currently an analyst for Fox Sports. Fox officials said Aikman was just playing with videographer when leaving an L.A. restaurant last night.
Troy Aikman was still having fun with the subject on Twitter later in the morning.
Stephen McGee needs all the work he can get. The third-string quarterback doesn't get many reps. The one game he would have gotten a lot of playing time in last season -- the final preseason game -- McGee was hurt. So Wade Phillips' learning practice Wednesday morning was great for McGee.
With Tony Romo and Jon Kitna not on the field, McGee was the top quarterback and got most of the snaps.
** The veterans were back at work in the afternoon after taking the morning off. The players were in shoulder pads and shorts for the eighth practice of camp.
** Special teams practice focused on kickoff coverage, which the Cowboys excelled at in 2009 in large part because of David Buehler's powerful leg that led to 29 touchbacks. He didn't have any touchbacks in the four kicks Wednesday but he had good hang time.
The Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys will be only a few parking lots apart on Aug. 10.
The Cowboys will hold an open-to-the-public pracgtice at 5:30 p.m. at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The session will be free, but there will be a $10 parking charge. Stadium gates open at 1:30 p.m., with an fomer players and current cheerleaders available for autographs at 4:30 p.m.
The Dallas Cowboys had only six healthy defensive linemen for Wednesday's afternoon practice at the Alamodome.
Sean Lissemore (groin), Lorenzo Washington (hamstring), Josh Brent (hand) and Jason Hatcher (elbow) were all held out of practice. Lissemore has the more serious problem in terms of time missed. He could be out for at least two weeks.
The Cowboys are looking for a free-agent defensive lineman to hurry into camp. They need bodies to prevent burnout and also have good practices.
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips just got finished with his Wednesday afternoon presser. Here's a quick rundown of the injury situation:
Defensive lineman Sean Lissemore will be out 1-2 weeks with a strained groin. Jason Hatcher (hyper-extended elbow) is still going to be out a few days, and defensive end Lorenzo Washington (hamstring) had a setback and is sidelined again.
-- Tracey Myers
The Cowboys have faith that Alan Ball can get the job done at free safety. Where is he in his learning curve?
"Right now, he's at level 101,'' secondary coach Dave Campo said. "He's working to 201. He's close to 201. If we get to 201, we're going to be pretty good.
"Not many guys get to 401. I'm at 401.''
Mike Hamlin and Patrick Watkins, who are challenging Ball for the job, have each made a few more big plays than Ball to this point. But Campo isn't concerned.
"He'll make some plays,'' Campo said. "He's still feeling his way around a little bit.
For the second consecutive season, outside linebacker Brandon Williams is making a strong impression on the Dallas Cowboys with his pass-rush skills.
As a rookie last year, Williams started so strongly that the Cowboys saw him as prime backup to outside linebackers DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer on pass-rush situations. That plan ended when Williams tore a ligament in the left knee during an exhibition game.
Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee was out there this morning when the team went through it's walk-through. He said his quad injury was just a strain, and that he didn't do a good enough job keeping himself hydrated in earlier practices. Lee said he should be ready to go, full steam, in a few days.