Wow, real NFL football.

It's finally here. Our NFC East brethren get it on as the defending Super Bowl champion Giants mix it up with the Redskins.

And just think, in a few more days our own Dallas Cowboys will be opening up their season.

This is an open thread for the game.

Paraphrase of Wade Phillips' press conference today.

Kosier, Spencer, Hurd and Austin didn’t practice, the same thing all week. It was a good practice, they were into it, I want it to be this way all the time, excited, focused. I want it to feel like the first week, every week of the season. Be excited about playing every week. We did blitz work on offense and defense, we emphasized the running game on both sides of the ball, and tomorrow we’ll work the redzone, short yardage stuff.

Terence Newman is in the process of getting back into it, you need to bring him along slowly, we learned that last year when we just kind of threw him back in there, We haven’t determined if he will start yet, we’ve limited him since he came back. Adam Jones has been used when we limited Newman, if it’s not Newman, Adam will start. There’s always a question of him even playing, want to see where he is. It’s a process, he hadn’t practice really since OTA’s, I don’t want throw him in there for the whole game. We feel good about how Adam has played.

[Ed. Note – It really did sound like Wade was hinting that Newman wouldn’t start and might be playing the nickel or some role on the sub packages. Kind of a new development.]

Kevin Burnett has done well, he feels good, his is a little different from Newman, he was only out a couple of weeks out and he’s come back from this same thing before. We haven’t limited him. (Special teams for him, too?) Important to have our best players out there and he’s a good special teamer, and Keith Davis will help us, too. He was voted special teams captain today. That’s pretty significant, shows the players have a lot of faith in him.

The captains are Keith on special teams, on defense its Ellis, Hamlin and Bradie. Om offense its Romo, Witten, Terrell Owens and Barber. We did the vote and I usually limit it to one or two captains, but the voting was so close, and those guys got so many votes, I gave him what they wanted and named them all captains. We’ll rotate the coin toss each week. They got voted in, we always say just one captain, but the team voted for them, that’s what they wanted.

Some of the starters play backup roles on special teams, if you need them they could play. Most are in backup roles. But if a guy plays a lot of regular plays, plus special teams, that could be too much. But we use some starters on one special team. Like Henry will be on the punt return team, he’s the jam guy. Roy covers on the kickoff team, he always covered kicks. Ware is on the FG rush, but those are the only teams they are on.

It says a lot about Keith Davis that he was voted a captain, it shows his credibility. It was overwhelming how many votes he got. Most of these guys were around him last year.

We’re not afraid of the hype around the team, the preseason “guesses.” We’re into the hype of this first game, and playing the best we can, and that’s as far as we go. Only thing we can do anything about is this upcoming game and that’s as far as the players go.

We have a plan for Felix on how much we utilize him, but it will be a feel thing with Jason Garrett. He needs to get comfortable with how much to utilize him. It’s hard to sub for Barber because he’s an outstanding player, we have a lot of confidence in Felix but a whole lot in Marion. We plan on utilizing him or Pacman on kickoffs.

I wasn’t surprised Marion was voted a captain even though he’s quiet, he is such a leader by example. He runs hard in practice, he runs faster than everybody in the drills, he stays after practice catching the ball, he’s a leader by example so it didn’t surprise me. Was surprised by his piano playing, I’m not an expert but it sounded good, unless it had one those automatic player things on it. (laughter) I told him I was impressed, I asked him if he could read music, he said played by ear, someone told me he hasn’t been playing long.

Lots of small talk about Hard Knocks.

Oh yeah, it's time for Know Thy Enemy and that can only mean one thing: NFL football is about to start for real. Hallelujah! Can I get a witness? There’s nothing like it. But to be ready for the game, you got to know what the enemy has been up to. So I asked ChrisPokorny over at SB Nation’s Cleveland Browns blog, Dawgs By Nature, to give us a preview. He obliged and his preview is below.

Browns Offense

Despite rumblings the past two weeks that Brady Quinn may start against the Cowboys due to a concussion Derek Anderson suffered at the hands of the New York Giants a few weeks ago, that is not the case. Anderson was back on the practice field this week and is scheduled to start. The biggest change for Anderson in training camp seems to be the chemistry with Braylon Edwards. That probably sounds kind of ridiculous considering the pair had 16 touchdowns last season, but the duo has simply been unstoppable in camp. One of Anderson's biggest flaws last year was that he threw his short passes without any touch on them. In his limited preseason action, it was difficult to tell whether or not any true progress had been made with respect to that.

Jamal Lewis is scheduled to carry the load again for the Browns. After a successful debut year last season, Lewis has lost 15-20 pounds and has been praised as being quicker and a little more elusive by the coaching staff. The Browns do have a possible utility running back in Jerome Harrison (much like Felix Jones could be), but he probably won't be used. On third-down pass situations, Jason Wright, the definition of a capable but simply average backup running back, will come in.

The passing game is where the Browns really thrive. WR Braylon Edwards cemented himself as one of the top five receivers in the NFL last season. He missed the final three games of the preseason due to a crazy incident where he didn't have his shoes on during practice and had his heel busted open. The stitches are out now, and that's not the type of injury that will linger or cause a problem with his gameplay. Opposite Edwards this year is WR Donte Stallworth. The jury is still out on Stallworth -- we have high hopes that he'll have a good rapport with Anderson, but at this point we simply don't know. The ideal element that Stallworth will bring to the table is the short catch-and-run factor, with the occasional deep
ball sprinkled in.

The Browns will miss veteran WR Joe Jurevicius' presence on third downs though. He was one of the best third-down receivers in all of the NFL last season, and Stallworth's specialty doesn't fulfill that role. Instead, we may look to talented TE Kellen Winslow a lot more often in third down situations. Winslow has been as unenthusiastic as you can get during preseason games, but his ability to stretch the field from the tight end position can cause matchup problems for whoever is lined up with him.

The offensive line has been hailed as one of the best lines in football now due to our strong left side of Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach. They are the heart and soul of our offensive line last season, with Thomas defending the league's best pass rushers without much issue. Anderson was one of the least sacked quarterbacks in football and Lewis was one of the top rushers in the AFC, a testament to our solid pass blocking and run blocking.

The weaker side of the line appears to be on the right side. Originally Ryan Tucker was slotted in at right guard, but he suffered an injury during the preseason and may not be ready until Week 2 or Week 3. Then free agent pickup Rex Hadnot was scheduled to start, but he went down in our final preseason game. Now, veteran Seth McKinney is scheduled to start. The world is not over though, because McKinney was our starting right guard during the first several games last season. While he's not as good as Tucker is he proved to be manageable.

Much like the Cowboys, the Browns' offense is very potent. There aren't any significant changes besides the Stallworth/Jurevicius situation. Because Anderson had a 6-0 record at Cleveland Browns Stadium last season, it should be expected that the Browns' offense will be efficient against the Cowboys.

Click the link below to read about the defense and the special teams.

Continue reading this post »

Discuss.

Paraphrase of Wade Phillips' press conference today.

Austin, Hurd, Kosier and Spencer didn’t practice. Stanback practiced and caught the ball well, maybe his best day, we should put a harness on him all the time. We had a brisk practice but it was really windy, we had good concentration, we were good in the passing game. Tomorrow we’ll go indoors if it’s that windy, but it made them concentrate today. Excited about game, anxious to play.

Stanback wore a harness last year, some of the year, he did the same things then, he caught the ball really well, we noticed him on the scout team.

Keith Davis is back with us, working mainly on special teams, he’s a core special team player, familiar with our calls, he works as the personal protector, feels comfortable there, comfortable on kickoff coverage, on coverage teams he’s a big plus. Lost him in the offseason, we could have played without him, but he’s a good leader and a good player on special teams. Nobody came through and replaced him, if a young player had come through we might not have needed to get him, but we needed him.

Procter seems comfortable at guard, he’s working hard. Smart guy, he's used to making calls at center that helps him at guard too, he can communicate with Flo and stay on the same page. He’ll repeat Andre’s calls and then anticipate things.

Derek Anderson was in Pro Bowl last year, he’s sort of Romo-ish, unheralded guy, he doesn’t get sacked a lot, gets rid of ball. He’s also a big guy, sees the field well, that helps him get rid of the ball. You have to get pressure but it’s hard to get sacks on him. I was telling DeMarcus you have to get him down if you get back there, he’s strong, a big QB like Terry Bradshaw was, it presents a problem. But he won’t scramble much, he get rids of the ball.

Joe Thomas played one-on-one a lot against all the good players that they played last year and gave up one sack all season. They’ll help him some certainly, like we do with our guys. But most of the time they want to get those help guys out in the routes, the QB helps him too by getting rid of the ball.

Derek Anderson does a good job of identifying blitzes, he’s sharp enough to see them and points out blitzes to his line and he changes protections. Pressure is always important. You saw it some in the preseason for us, just hitting the QB, not just sacks but getting pressure causes mistakes. If you can rush four and get pressure that’s great, if not you have to rush five or six. The Giants could get pressure with just four last year that’s why they did so well.

These offenses are similar, their TE is outstanding and hard to cover like ours, their WR had over 1200 yards like ours, they have a Pro Bowl RB like us, they are very similar. They scored a lot of points last year like us, their QB is into his second year like Romo was last year. Even in preseason they moved the football well. Kellen Winslow is one of the toughest TE’s to cover. He’s very adept at pushing off - I mean getting open. (laughter) I hope the officials note that. (more laughter) He’s a first round pick and a good one, along with the other guys, they’re tough. He’s quicker than his Dad was, his Dad was a bigger, stronger guy, a little different, but both are Pro Bowl caliber.

The Cleveland Browns were the chic pick for breakout-team in the AFC that could challenge the established powers this year. They won 10 games last year, they have weapons on offense and have finally found their QB. Then they started playing preseason games and the ankle injuries piled up, not for the team, but for all the people jumping off their bandwagon. Poor preseason performances coupled with real injuries, not just those to the bandwagoneers, have revised projections down for the Brownies.

The Dallas Cowboys will get the first crack at determining just who the Browns are, an up-and-comer or a pretender. The Browns defense is the unit that could relegate them to pretender, they have a young and inexperienced secondary coupled with a defensive line that was very easy to run against last year. They’ve tried to address the defensive line by importing some players including Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams. The Cowboys are entering the game with Cory Procter at left guard; if the defensive tackles can force double-teams with Gurode always having to help Procter, then watch out for blitzes up the middle and overloads/stunts on the other side for Bigg and Columbo to handle. They better be able to get pressure, because the Cowboys starting WR/TE combo looks like a mismatch for the Browns secondary.

Cleveland is battling a lot of injury problems right now. QB Derek Anderson is supposed to play after sitting out with a concussion. Braylon Edwards and Jamal Lewis are also expected to return. But they have even more injuries than that as chronicled here. Today’s practice is supposed to go a long way towards determining who will be able to play Sunday against the Cowboys.

One guy who probably won’t play is special teams super-stud Josh Cribbs.

Special teams star Josh Cribbs (high ankle sprain) dressed and participated in light special teams walk-through, but went back inside when the real session got underway. He sounded resigned to sitting out the opener even though he wants to play.

"I've got so many responsibilities,'' he said. "I can't let this thing linger.''

With our special teams coverage units under siege, it would be a huge relief if they didn’t have to face Cribbs.

The Browns offensive line also has injury and depth issues, meaning the Cowboys front-five could have a very good day.

It’s informative to read an overview of the Cowboys from the outside, here’s one from a Cleveland paper.   

Montrae Holland feels small among the Cowboys gargantuan linemen. 

The Cowboys officially sign Keith Davis to a one-year deal. 

You have to, I repeat, you have to go read this story on MB3. Turns out MB3’s first love was defense and hitting people and was brought to college as a defensive back. There are some really good stories about MB3 from other players in the league. E.J. Henderson's quote sums them all up. 

E.J. HENDERSON, Vikings LB
He's the toughest back in the league to tackle. Dude's for real.

Hat tip Wmillion for posting the link.

Keith Davis is getting his old number back. Tashard Choice took Evan Oglesby’s #23 and Keith is getting #29 back.

I was thinking about the return of Keith Davis and then about the decision to keep Alan Ball over Evan Oglesby and that led to thinking the Cowboys aren’t very confident in their special teams. Then I thought about that statement for a moment and realized that’s not really true. They're obviously concerned about their punt coverage and their kickoff coverage, but the rest of the special teams are just fine. In fact, it’s a strong point. Nick Folk is money on FG’s, so much so that when he misses I think the earth has momentarily shifted off its axis causing the ball to sail wide. Mat McBriar is as good as any punter in the league. Adam Jones can take one to the house on any given punt return and the combination of Adam Jones, Felix Jones, Miles Austin or Isaiah Stanback returning kicks is a potent mix. So in essence, it’s all good except for the coverage teams.

Orlando Scandrick gets some love. 

During the season, BTB usually finishes with the analyzing of the last game on Tuesday and starts with the new opponent on Wednesday. We spent the last few days discussing the roster, now we turn our attention to the Cleveland Browns.

And for all things Cleveland Browns, be sure and visit Dawgs by Nature where ChrisPokorny covers our first victim of the year. I’ll be exchanging a few posts with DBN in the next few days.

Back at TC, I posted about Don with the Hummer truck covered in Cowboys decals and how we went to the Cowboys hotel and met some players. Don also got me into the VIP section so I owed him a solid. He sent me an email and wanted me to let you guys know that he’s opening up more chapters of his Dallas Cowboys fan clubs. You can visit his website at DallasCowboyzFanZ.com and learn more about it. He’s opening clubs new clubs in Portland, Washington D.C. and Cape Coral, FL in addition to his original club in Ontario, CA. Visit his site or click below to read the press release.

Continue reading this post »

With Keith Davis signing tomorrow, the Cowboys had to dump a player. Evan Oglesby was the unfortunate Cowboy.

[Keith] Davis will officially sign his contract with Dallas before Wednesday's practice, making this his third stint with the club in a five-year span. The club made room on its 53-man roster by releasing cornerback Evan Oglesby, who had one of the best training camps of any player.

OK, I’ve been saying it for a while now, if they keep Alan Ball over Evan Oglesby, they must believe that Ball has a ton of special teams potential yet unrealized. Because no observer of training camp or the preseason could plausibly state that Ball outplayed Oglesby. Quite the contrary, Ball was a disaster as a CB with more penalties and mistakes than plays made. Oglesby at least was an occasional playmaker. But with the 6^th CB, special teams often wins. And of course, there’s the real issue:

There's also the matter of money. Oglesby, a restricted free agent after this season, would have cost the Cowboys more than a million bucks to keep him next season. That's more than Ball will cost the next two seasons combined ($370,000 this season, $460,000 in '09).

I guess I should have followed the old maxim: Follow the money.

Hat tip to Barrett14 for posting the news in this FanPost.

[UPDATE] To be clear, I don't think they kept Ball over Ogelsby just because of money. I think they looked at two guys who were at the bottom of the roster and weighed the pros and cons. Oglesby is the better corner now but may not get any reps if the rest of the corners stayed healthy. Ball is not ready to play corner, but they think he can contribute on special teams. Then they looked at the contracts and decided that Ball being signed for the next couple of years at bottom rates vs. Oglesby being up for renewal next year as another reason to stick with Ball. Still, I would have rather kept Erik Walden than either of them.

This story still makes no sense to me. 

A paraphrase of the important news out of today’s Wade Phillips press conference.

First practice with the whole group for the Browns game. Hurd, Austin, and Kosier didn’t practice. Cory Procter will start at left guard, seems like best fit right now, the other guys did well but he’s played there before and I have confidence in him. McQuistan is not as good at guard as at tackle, Berger did a good job but played mainly the right side.

Isaiah Stanback practiced and caught the ball well, caught it over his head, caught it and ran with it, it looks good that he’ll play and be the #3 WR. He looked good in practice. We haven’t finalized the 45 for the game, normally you take 4 WR’s but Witten can play in the slot and Felix can too, but still a decision to be made.

Joe Berger can work at center, but right now Procter would replace Gurode if there was an injury.

Felix Jones and Pacman will probably do kickoff returns, maybe not together but one or the other back there. Hope there aren’t too many kickoffs to return. We want to make sure Isaiah can get through the game, so we’ll be careful with using him back there, but we’ll see the rest of the week, he was able to block today at practice.

We’re looking at Keith Davis, I think we can get things worked out and then add him. Adds some to our team, he did last year, captain of special teams. No secret we struggled some in preseason on kick coverage, he can help on ST and he’s a leader.

Montrae Holland would be a rush job right now to play, not there yet. He’s working and spending extra time to see where he can get, he can help us this year and through the next few weeks. He’s a bigger guy, Procter is a good player and we think he will do well, but Holland is more of an anchor, strong guy, bigger guy.

If we took 4 WR’s it would probably be either Amendola or Jefferson.

Kevin Burnett looked good in practice, moved around well, we’ll monitor him over the next day or two.

Terence Newman is practicing fine.

My reaction to today’s news from the press conference.

I might as well stop trying to figure out what Wade Phillips is doing over there at Valley Ranch. Cory Procter will start at left guard. Here’s a guy who received minimal reps at guard in TC and during the preseason, including the Vikings game, and he gets the call to start. One would presume that they knew what Procter would give them but not Joe Berger and Pat McQuistan, and neither of them proved their worth enough to get the nod. I’ve always though Procter was OK in technique but he seems soft in the middle, he gives up ground much too easy. I don’t know, I didn’t think they were seriously considering him because of the lack of reps they gave him at the position. Anyway, that’s who is starting this week so let’s hope that he plays well enough that we king of forget he’s in there.

Good news on Isaiah Stanback, if he continues to practice well, we can go into the Cleveland game with three wide receivers that are already on the 53-man roster.

It sure sounds like Wade expects Montrae Holland to take over for Procter as soon as the second game. I’m sure Hudson Houck is saying give me the big guy, he loves big linemen.

Keep your fingers crossed on Kevin Burnett. We sure could use him on Sunday.

The Dallas Cowboys have about three or four days to get this all straightened out. What they presented as their 53-man roster and practice squad will surely change this week, and possibly next week, the question is how much.

We know that Keith Davis is going to be signed, possibly on Tuesday or Wednesday. That means one person is gone from the 53-man roster. Dallas is carrying one extra defensive back and one extra offensive lineman, so you would guess one of the bottom two corners, Alan Ball or Evan Oglesby, would get the boot. I don’t think they’d carry 12 defensive backs.

But there is another piece of the puzzle that could change who Davis replaces. Isaiah Stanback is going to attempt to practice in a shoulder harness. His success or failure will determine his future, which could go from playing in the season opener to landing on IR. The Cowboys will watch him at practice and make a determination on his season. If he can play on Sunday, Danny Amendola and Mike Jefferson will likely remain on the practice squad.

For the immediate week, it doesn’t look like the Cowboys are going to add a veteran WR, instead they will depend on either Stanback’s health or call up Amendola or Jefferson. Unless they are working on a trade, it appears they will go in-house for week one. After week one, they can look at outside free-agent options.

Also in the mix for the following week is a veteran QB coming on board to be the #3. Everybody says that it’s Brooks Bollinger and not Chris Simms. Dallas put Richard Bartel on the practice quad this morning, but his future is very unsure.

So let me try and sum it up:

Keith Davis is going to take a 53-man roster spot.
If Isaiah Stanback is healthy enough to play, Davis would displace either Ball or Oglesby, or possibly even James Marten.
If Stanback goes to IR, then Davis could take his spot.
But Stanback’s absence would most likely require a call-up of Mike Jefferson or Danny Amendola, meaning Ball, Oglesby or Marten will have to go.
Next week, barring a trade this week, the Cowboys could look at adding a WR, depending on health issues.
Next week, they might bring in a #3 QB and Brooks Bollinger appears to be the leader in the clubhouse.

Tank Johnson has changed his number to 95 and Montrae Holland will wear #64. The question is what number will Keith Davis wear? Tashard Choice has his old #29.

As noted above, Richard Bartel was added to the practice squad Monday morning. 

The DMN says we’ve expressed interest in old friend Jamaica Rector but not Joe Horn or Freddie Mitchell. Freddie Mitchell?

Adam Jones has been a good guy. 

Folkin-A!