DC.com provides the detailed training camp practice schedule. I wonder if anyone has ever tried such an ambitious and hectic schedule? You have five preseason games, two training camp sites (1400 miles apart), and an interlude in Dallas during the second week of August for a few days between quick turnaround preseason games. At least monotony shouldn't be a problem.
Aaron Novinger of BTB and Calvin Watkins each review the recently camp schedule. Watkins notes the lack of off days:
Parcells grinded the players hard mentally and physically, but he had more off-days during training camp than Phillips. Case in point: This year's training camp schedule, which has no days off during both stretches of camp in San Antonio and Oxnard, Calif.
In San Antonio, the Cowboys have 21 consecutive practices with two sets of two-a-day practices on back-to-back days.
Bryan Broaddus has updated two more positions: Tight End and Offensive Tackle. Broaddus is coming around on Doug Free:
Doug Free proved me wrong for eight games, and he’ll benefit from playing next to consistent Kyle Kosier. I thought there was going to be a collapse when Free replaced injured Marc Colombo last season, a chink in the armor, but that didn’t happen. He’s everything you want in a tackle but strong, and he can improve that.
Novinger also offers a quick preview of the first three games of the season leading into the bye, focusing on offseason changes made by the Redskins, Bears and Texans.
Watkins has five "random" observations, including some talk about rookie DB Akwasi Owusu-Ansah. He thinks that AOA needs to get on the field so that the coaches can evaluate him, in order for him to fight for a spot on the defense:
The Cowboys like his smarts and ball skills and believe he can help out at corner if necessary because that's what he played in college. But the Cowboys need to see him on the field to get a better evaulation of him. Owusu-Ansah can become a game-day active player if he performs well as a kick returner. Secondary coach Dave Campo said special teams is a major way he can play every week.
This is true, but it's kind of a non-point, considering that the Cowboys didn't expect him to be on the field until training camp when they drafted him. This injury appeared to be a real factor in AOA falling to Dallas late in the fourth round, along with his small school background. The organization's approach to free safety and fourth corner back should have excluded any expectation of him being a player in the conventional defense anyway, so the fact that things have gone as expected shoudn't be considered a problem.
Bradie James is itching to get going.
And Rafael Vela explores the validity of the Cowboys' moniker of America's Team.