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October 2008
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Who should win offensive honor? Spencer isn't ready to be starter Disappearing nameplates make guys nervous Categories
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August 28, 2007The Cowboys have their Kickoff Luncheon tomorrow, with proceeds benefitting Happy Hill Farm. One of the highlights of the luncheon is the announcing of the team's offensive and defensive players of the year for last season. The awards are voted on by the team's coaches, but let's pretend that your votes count, too. Feel free to disagree, but I think DeMarcus Ware is a slam dunk for the defensive honor. Not so sure who should win on offense. You could make cases for Tony Romo, T.O., Marion Barber or Andre Gurode. Who gets your vote?  Comments (36) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Who should win offensive honor?" has no entry tags. Wade Phillips claimed that he hadn't heard anything about Greg Ellis' visit to Dr. James Andrews yesterday. Phillips is purposely playing it close to the vest with injury info. A reporter who will remain anonymous got all huffy and confrontational in a high-pitched kind of way yesterday about Phillips' erroneous injury reports. Ellis has been day-to-day for a month, Terry Glenn has been out twice as long as the originally anounced two weeks, etc. "Day-to-day on all injuries," Phillips said this afternoon, smirking at the reporter. "We expect all of them to be back by the second Washington game." Since I was sitting next to the reporter in question, I had to stifle my laughter.  LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN We'll hopefully get an update on Greg Ellis when Wade Phillips chats with the media in a few minutes. At this point, the Cowboys have to prepare as if Ellis won't be ready to go against the Giants. That's why Bobby Carpenter got some snaps at OLB against the Texans. First-round pick Anthony Spencer (right) simply isn't ready to be an every-down OLB yet. Spencer, a DE in college, admits that he's really only comfortable when he's rushing the passer. He's still learning how to play with leverage out of a two-point stance, and he's still struggling with reading the TE when he has pass-drop responsibilities. Ahman Green's 46-yard run Saturday night was right at Spencer, though it turned from a nice gain into a big play because of shoddy tackling in the secondary. But Spencer has to be considered a liability against the run at this point. "I definitely have to be ready to be attacked," Spencer said. "I am the rookie. I am fresh meat." UPDATE: Wade Phillips pointed out that Shawne Merriman didn't start until his fourth game. Phillips' answered, "Sit and watch," when asked what the ideal role for Spencer this season would be. That was a joke, but he confirmed that the plan when they drafted Spencer was to use him as a reserve pass rusher this season. Comments (12) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Spencer isn't ready to be starter" has no entry tags. Todd Archer mentioned that the Cowboys' ability to use Roy Williams like they want depends on Terence Newman. No Newman -- or a less-than-100 percent version that can't handle No. 1 receivers in man coverage -- would throw a major wrench in Wade Phillips' scheme. "He's a guy you can put on an island," safety Ken Hamlin said. "He can play one-on-one against a receiver, and you can look the other way." Anthony Henry, on the other hand, is not a guy you can leave on an island. He needs help, and it's a lot tougher to give him that help if you also have to worry about helping the cornerback on the other side. And it's much more complicated to be aggressive with blitzes if you're not confident that at least one cornerback will be OK by himself. Newman is one tough dude, so it's a solid bet that he'll play through the pain in his foot. Whether he can play at the near-Pro Bowl level he has throughout his career is iffy at best. Comments (18) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "What if Newman needs help?" has no entry tags. Terry Glenn was back on the practice field, upping his rehab from right knee surgery. Glenn is expected to practice with his teammates on Saturday. He looked smooth in his work with associate trainer Britt Brown in resistance training. As he walked on to the practice field, several defensive backs started to chant, "Terry, Terry, Terry," prompting a wave from the veteran receiver. Rookie tackle Doug Free is also expected to practice Saturday after missing time with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He looked smooth going through the same rehab as Glenn, too. Nine nameplates were gone from above lockers this morning, and Pete Lougheed's has probably been taken down by now. That makes guys fighting for roster spots real nervous. "This isn't like a dream anymore," rookie FB Deon "Cricket" Anderson said. "This is real." Anderson's special teams ability will probably earn him a spot on the 53-man roster, but he won't believe he's made the team until the final cuts are announced. His wife and infant son are still in New England, and he won't move them down here until he's sure that he really is a Dallas Cowboy. Comments (3) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Disappearing nameplates make guys nervous" has no entry tags.
A reader asked columnist Kevin Sherrington in today's chat about the personnel in Wade Phillips' aggressive 3-4 defensive scheme. Kevin said the parts were fine until cornerback Terence Newman went down. Jason: Do you think the Cowboys have the type of personnel necessary to excel in Wade Phillips' aggressive 3-4 style of defense? It seems the assumption is that the Phillips' 3-4 will fix all of the defensive woes from a year ago, but does the scheme make the players or do the players make the scheme? Kevin Sherrington: Terence Newman makes this one, and that's the problem. Certainly, players fit some schemes better than others. Jimmy Johnson liked a fast defense that tended to be small. Bill Parcells liked monsters. This unit seems to have both. But if Newman isn't healthy, and it doesn't look like he will be, that puts a serious hurt on what Phillips wants to do. I think they need to go find a corner. Quick. Here's the transcript of the chat. Just in case you needed to know more about the plantar fascia (other than it hurts like heck when it's torn), here's a diagram ... For those of you waiting for the Cowboys to cut kicker Martin Gramatica in order to reach the 75-man limit, stop holding your breath. That was never under consideration. Instead the Cowboys released offensive tackle Pete Lougheed. The Cowboys had to wait a day because Lougheed was having his shoulder examined on Monday. The finals cuts come Saturday.  LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN I was prepared to launch a campaign on this here blog lobbying for Isaiah Stanback to get a shot returning punts. Figured I better check with the rookie first, and I'm glad I did. "If I was them, I wouldn't put me back there yet, either," Stanback said. Wade Phillips has indicated that he doesn't think Stanback is a pure punt returner. He mentioned that Stanback (6-2, 208) is much bigger than the prototype return guy and perhaps not as shifty. The truth is that Stanback is struggling to catch punts during practice. He's never done it before, and it's not as easy as it sounds. Does he think he can be a punt returner down the road? "Yeah," he said, "but I need a lot more work at it." Comments (6) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Stanback not ready to return punts" has no entry tags. How is FB Oliver Hoyte feeling? "I'm going to practice today and find out," said Hoyte, who has been sidelined with a severe stinger since the Broncos were in town. Eagles: Return man Jeremy Bloom of U.S. Ski Team fame has been "just OK," according to Andy Reid. ... WR Reggie Brown is being counted on to have a breakout season, but he had a mediocre preseason. ... Columnist calls out Reid for not being as tough as Dick Vermeil, who I don't think made public crying a habit until he came out of retirement. Giants: New York has all kinds of injury issues, too, including WR Plaxico Burress' bad back. ... The Strahan Watch continues. "It's no distraction, no distraction at all," DE Osi Umenyiora insisted. Redskins: QB Jason Campbell wants to play the final preseason game, but Joe Gibbs isn't so sure that's a great idea. ... DT Cornelius Griffin wants to make up for playing poorly last season, when his surgically repaired shoulder bothered him all year.
You can read all about the injuries to Terence Newman and Greg Ellis and Martin Gramatica and others. But that's not nearly as much fun as reading about fantasy football. Fantasy guru Ladd Biro mapped out the perfect draft, picking a couple Cowboys in the middle rounds. He snagged Tony Romo in the seventh and Jason Witten in the 11th. Don't think that's realistic around these parts, though. Too many Cowboys homers to let them slip that far. Comments (2) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Something to take your mind off all the injuries" has no entry tags. DMN columnist Kevin Sherrington takes your Cowboys questions in his chat on dallasnews.com at 11 a.m. today. Send early questions to chat@dallasnews.com. Comments (0) Leave comment
| E-mail entryThe entry "Sherrington chat today at 11 a.m." has no entry tags. |
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