Dallas Cowboys News

[DC_fan]

Cowboys CB Morris Claiborne packs on the pounds so he can get ‘more physical’

By Rainer Sabin / Reporter
rsabin@dallasnews.com

IRVING — One of Morris Claiborne’s goals this off-season was to add weight to his lean frame. As a rookie, the Dallas Cowboys’ 5-11 cornerback didn’t exactly tip the scales at 185 pounds.

So, at the behest of secondary coach Jerome Henderson, he hit the gym and packed on some muscle that would allow him to better absorb the heavy contact he faces on a weekly basis during the NFL season.

“Now, I’m at 193,” Claiborne said.

Claiborne said he is getting used to moving with the added weight but is happy it’s there. He knows that in new coordinator Monte Kiffin’s scheme the cornerbacks will press receivers and will be required to defend the run — responsibilities that are sure to take a toll on Claiborne’s body.

“Anytime you’re out there playing corner you have to be ready, you have to be ready to tackle when the opportunity presents itself, so with me putting on a couple of pounds and getting more physical and being in the weight room I think is going to help a lot,” Claiborne said.

Claiborne, who played in 15 games as a rookie and recorded one interception as well as one forced fumble, is hoping to make a greater impact in his second season.

“I’m excited for him to work on his body and get stronger and bigger because he had to do that to get to the level that we expect him to play at,” Henderson said. “So he’s doing that work to get stronger and bigger and faster and then you come out here today and you see him start to move and he moves around really well. Again, I’m excited for his upside too. He just has to be stronger. There were times last year when he wasn’t strong enough to execute a certain technique, so he’s had to get stronger to do that and he’s done the work to do that.”


http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/cowboys-cb-morris-claiborne-packs-on-the-pounds-so-he-can-get-more-physical.html/

 

[DC_fan]

Cowboys' tight end search will never end

IRVING, Texas -- With the Cowboys attempting to marry themselves to the two-tight end offense for the third time in eight years by taking Gavin Escobar in the second round of last month’s draft, the search for more tight ends never ends.

Two weeks ago, the Cowboys made a waiver claim on Mickey Shuler Jr. after he was cut by Oakland, but Buffalo received priority based on its record last season.

Jason Witten, Escobar, James Hanna, Colin Cochart, Andre Smith and Paul Freedman are on the current roster but the team is always on the lookout for more. They had B.J. Stewart and Taylor Cook in for tryouts at the recent rookie minicamp but neither player showed much.

Finding a veteran tight end with a blocking bent would appear to be a need behind Witten. Escobar, Hanna and Cochart are considered more pass catching tight ends. At 267 pounds, Smith would seem to fit the bill as a blocker. He was a late-season add to the practice squad in 2012 and the Cowboys decided he warranted a further look.

If the attempt to land Shuler is any indication, the Cowboys are not done looking for tight end help.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys

 

[DC_fan]

There’s a new power couple in charge at Valley Ranch

BY RANDY GALLOWAY
rgalloway@star-telegram.com

You noticed, of course, that the newly anointed second most powerful man at Valley Ranch made a rare public appearance last week.

It was Tony Time again. And there’s nothing in the NFL, and probably nothing in professional sports, like this particular Tony timeline.

Five months ago, in the wee hours of New Year’s Eve, Mr. Romo was answering questions in the stadium bowels at Landover, Md., attempting to explain one of the most what-the-heck-was-that disasters of his Dallas Cowboys career.

When Tony surfaced again last week, as the Cowboys were opening off-season workouts, he was attempting to downplay one of the most what-the-heck-was-that divine moments of anybody’s jock life.

From horse spit to The Horse.

That’s Tony Time, and the Tony timeline, for you.

For a quarterback with such a meager bottom line when it comes to winning time, it’s the most remarkable story in the NFL.

Romo is now more powerful at Valley Ranch than anyone except Jerry.

Stephen? Move over a chair.

Jason? You’ve officially been demoted to the front row.

It’s the Jerry and Tony Show, with Romo already involved last month in drafting, plus, according to Jerry, he now has a strong say in game planning, play calling and, I guess, who gets to clean Jerry’s eyewear.

When Mr. Jones gave Romo that new $108 million contract a month ago, he signed up both a quarterback and a love child.

And while some in the local media are in disagreement, I thought Romo had exactly the right approach during his rare interview session last week.

Tony either talked in circles or downplayed his new muscle, while totally dodging the obvious question: Did he go to Jerry demanding more authority?

The criticism was Romo didn’t step up and admit his new leadership role.

We already know the bus is coming right at Jason Garrett, but the dumbest thing Romo could have done last week was give the head coach a push in the you-know-what direction.

The month of May is not the time for that. We will know soon enough.

Tony has worked under the offensive direction of Garrett for six seasons now. For those of us who have campaigned for Jason to hire an offensive coordinator who could provide Romo with a new voice, we knew the odds were heavily against that.

But Jerry stepped in this off-season and, like it or not, gave Garrett that new voice. It will be Tony talking. With Jason also dug in this off-season, how much does the head coach plan on listening?

Old-friend Albert Breer of the NFL Network — he’s a former local football writer — interviewed Mr. Jones last week. Jerry was not backing off on Romo’s new impact:

“He’s in a position where he can be involved in decision-making, and should be. He’s gonna make them out there on the field, so, he should be, with his experience, involved in the formation of what we’re going to be doing game planning.”

Of course, Garrett has already answered that with a “Tony has always been involved with the game planning.”

But for once, Jones ain’t double-talking here. Romo’s decision-making role, he’s telling us, will be greatly expanded, which will be interesting since Romo’s on-the-field decision-making at winning time is one of the biggest knocks on Tony, fair or not.

Also note that in this NFL Network interview, Jerry tied Romo’s new money into the quarterback’s authority surge, plus he denied the heavy speculation that Garrett’s job will be on the line this season.

Jones: “Well, when you give someone $100 million, then you would like to get every ounce of anything they can bring to the table to win a football game.”

(OK, Jerry, except normally a quarterback is paid that handsome sum because he’s already won a bunch of big games.)

And more Jerry, this time on Garrett’s job security:

“Well, no. No, he’s not... to the last question: Is Jason coaching for his job? No. What’s we’re doing is taking the assets we have, and Jason being right at the top, and certainly our premier asset, and we’re using them to the best of our ability ...

“We’re going to take what we’ve got, as an example, Romo’s great experience, ability, decision-making, all of those things, and we’re going to try and win more ballgames.”

Side note to Garrett:

I’d get that “No. No, he’s not” comment in writing, plus notarized. Just in case, of course, you need that document come December.

Then again, maybe Romo can save Garrett’s job, either by not repeating such foolishness as the Landover game five months ago, or simply because he’s now got more Jerry-invested power than the head coach.


http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/25/4884238/theres-a-new-power-couple-in-charge.html

 

[Big Mick]

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013...ft-board-leaked-almost-complete-7-round-board

 

[DC_fan]

It shows you just how far someone will go to get information. In saying that I have no problem with it. The draft is over so what does it matter that the Cowboys draft plan is out.

As a Cowboys fan I like to see what their thought plan was for the draft.

 

[DC_fan]

Cowboys out-Cowboys themselves, Garrett won’t comment

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 4, 2013, 3:06 PM EDT

AP
It’s never easy with these guys.

Even though Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spilled the beans on the fact Bill Callahan was calling offensive plays this year, and even though Callahan talked about it, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett wouldn’t.

According to Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com, Garrett refused to confirm that Callahan was taking over the job he had previously held since 2007, saying there was no advantage to saying so.

Callahan tried to soft-pedal the situation which was made awkward strictly by Jones’ handling of it.

“I’m flattered and as I said this a long time ago when we were visiting in January and February, everybody has a stake in this,” Callahan said. “It’s a compliment to our staff and it tells you the way our guys work on the offensive side of the ball. It’s been productive all the way around. I’m really encouraged, I’m honored and just do the best job for our fans and our team.”

Garrett did say he was on board with all the organization’s decisions, which is the thing to say when you’re interested in the continued flow of paychecks into your bank account.

Asked later if he’d like to see information released differently, Garrett replied: “I think you can draw your own conclusions.”

The conclusion every sentient being is drawing is that Jones has cut Garrett off at the knees, creating an unstable situation which has already created hurt feelings, and set the stage for an “every man for himself,” coaching staff.

What could possibly go wrong?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/04/cowboys-out-cowboys-themselves-garrett-wont-comment/

 

[DC_fan]

Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Travis Frederick ‘a lot more comfortable’ than he was a month ago

By Jon Machota / Special Contributor
jmachota@dallasnews.com
11:58 pm on June 12, 2013 | Permalink

IRVING – Jason Garrett said Wednesday that he notices the growth that Travis Frederick has made since the Dallas Cowboys selected the center in the first-round of April’s NFL Draft.

And Garrett, who praised the rookie’s confidence and everyday approach, noted that it isn’t an easy task getting the ball snapped with defensive tackles like Jay Ratliff and Jason Hatcher lining up in front of you.

“We’ve been practicing against a lot of good talent, and that’s something I wanted,” Frederick said. “One of the reasons that I decided to leave early and come to the NFL was the opportunity to play against great competition every day and it certainly is great and it gives me a great chance to be better.”

Frederick said things are starting to slow down for him in regards to getting to the line of scrimmage and identifying what the defense is trying to do.

“I’m certainly a lot more comfortable, still really improving on a lot of things on a daily basis,” Frederick said. “Now my focus has really changed to the little things, the technique things here and there instead of trying to pick up a playbook and pick that stuff up. I feel like I’ve picked that up pretty well as far as assignments and stuff like that, but obviously there will be little things here and there, and once we start seeing some different defenses it’s going to be a little bit more as well.”

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/dallas-cowboys-first-round-pick-travis-frederick-a-lot-more-comfortable-than-he-was-a-month-ago.html/

 

[DC_fan]

Hulk Hogan's daughter gets engaged to Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman

SportsDayDFW.com
Published: 30 June 2013 09:49 AM
Updated: 30 June 2013 02:51 PM

Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Phil Costa proposed to Brooke Hogan over the weekend, according to Hogan's Instagram account.

Hogan is the daughter of Hulk Hogan, the long-time professional wrestler.

Brooke is a singer, actress and model, and she currently works for TNA wrestling.
“Happiest moment of my LIFE. I am marrying my best friend. I woulnt choose anyone else. I am so lucky and so grateful,” Hogan wrote on Instagram.

Apparently she married a guy named Bully Ray on the wrestling show. Does that mean professional wrestling could be fake?

As far as reality is concerned, Costa might be happy, but the position he plays on the Cowboys is up in the air.

The fourth-year veteran is aware he may no longer be snapping the ball to quarterback Tony Romo after the Cowboys drafted Wisconsin center Travis Frederick in the first round in April.
"I mean, I've played guard before," Costa said recently at the Cowboys Annual Golf Classic. "I've played center. I guess wherever the best fit is."

In March, Costa agreed to a two-year contract after playing in only three games last season because of multiple injuries, including a dislocated right ankle he suffered Oct. 21 that required surgery to repair ligament damage.

"It was supposed to be a four- to six-month recovery and I was pretty much 100 percent right on the four-month mark, maybe a little before," he said. "But it's healed well."

Now that Costa has recovered, he will likely have to fight for a starting assignment.
"It's part of the NFL," Costa said. "It's competition."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20130630-hulk-hogan-s-daughter-gets-engaged-to-dallas-cowboys-offensive-lineman.ece

 

[DC_fan]

Cowboys training camp starts Friday 19th July. Cowboys just cannot wait.

Go the Cowboys.

 

[DC_fan]

Cowboys to play without a Fullback this season?

The Cowboys have cut FBI Lawrence Vickers. He underwent back surgery in April.

Vickers was the only fullback on the roster. There has been some talk this off season that the Cowboys would play without a fullback and make use of multiple tight end schemes.

 

[DC_fan]

NFC East not what it used to be, but here’s how it stacks up

By Rick Gosselin / Columnist
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
8:23 pm on July 13, 2013 | Permalink

It’s been 19 years since the NFL salary cap has locked into place, but the NFC East continues to struggle with a budget.

Remember the days before the cap, when the favorite to win the NFC East automatically doubled as the Super Bowl favorite? An NFC East team went to 15 of the 28 pre-salary cap Super Bowls and won nine of them.

But after the cap arrived in 1994, the NFC East became just another division. The Cowboys won a Super Bowl in 1995 but haven’t been back since. The Redskins have never gone to the Super Bowl in the salary cap era. Only the Giants have been able to win a Lombardi Trophy with the NFL’s financial constraints, and New York has two of them.

Parity has been a shovel-smack to the face of the NFC East. This is the only division with four different champions over the last four years. In two of those seasons, the NFC East failed to win a playoff game.

So I’m hard pressed to label any of the four NFC East teams reporting to training camp this month as a Super Bowl contender. The Cowboys will be the first to check in Friday.

So what has transpired in this division in the off-season to foster reason for hope or despair?

The Redskins will also be healthy in 2012. Washington lost an NFL-runner-up 75 games by starters because of injury a year ago and still smoked its division rivals, posting a 5-1 mark against the East.

The key for the Redskins will be the health of quarterback Robert Griffin III, who underwent surgery on his right knee in January. But Adrian Peterson has proved that Texans are superhuman healers, and Griffin says he’ll be back for training camp. If so, pencil in the Redskins as the NFC East favorite.

Philadelphia allowed the fewest yards and points in the East a year ago and have since added four free-agent defenders who started in recent Super Bowls: tackle Isaac Sopoaga (49ers), cornerback Cary Williams (Baltimore) and safeties Patrick Chung (Patriots) and Kenny Phillips (Giants).

The Eagles are the wild card in this division because of new coach Chip Kelly. Can he execute the fast-break offense with the same degree of efficiency in the NFL that he did at Oregon?

I do like the continuity and pedigree of the Giants. The coaching staff and players have championship know-how with those two Lombardi trophies since 2007. Eli Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP. New York also has the best combination of offensive and defensive lines in this division.
Which brings us to the Cowboys.

The defense should be better with the return of linebackers Sean Lee and Bruce Carter and safety Barry Church from injuries. Church missed the final 13 games, Lee the final 10 and Carter five. But all will be asked to play a new scheme, and Carter must learn a new position. How quickly can the Cowboys adapt to the scheme of Monte Kiffin?

Offensively, the Cowboys both hope and expect DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant to take the next step as offensive weapons. But does the addition of a rookie center solve all that ailed the Cowboys on the offensive line a year ago?

Right now I stack ’em Redskins, Giants, Cowboys and Eagles in the East. I’ll be going to Oxnard next weekend to see if the Cowboys can change my mind.

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/gosselin-nfc-east-not-what-it-used-to-be-but-heres-how-it-stacks-up.html/

 

[DC_fan]

Forbes’ most valuable sports teams: Dallas Cowboys No. 1 in the NFL, No. 5 in the world

For the seventh consecutive year, the Dallas Cowboys are the NFL’s most valuable team.

According to Forbes magazine rankings that were published Monday, the Cowboys are the only NFL franchise valued over $2 billion. Dallas’ $2.1 billion total was good enough for fifth place on the list of the world’s most valuable teams, trailing only Real Madrid ($3.3 billion), Manchester United ($3.1 billion) Barcelona ($2.6 billion) and the New York Yankees ($2.3 billion).

The New England Patriots ($1.63 billion), Washington Redskins ($1.6 billion) and New York Giants ($1.468 billion) were the other NFL teams to crack the top 10. The Houston Texans rounded out the NFL’s top five, coming in at No. 13 at $1.3 billion.

The article stated that the Cowboys have been the NFL’s most valuable team since 2007 due to the league’s highest sponsorship and premium seating revenues, which total a combined $200 million.

Although the Cowboys have increased in value, their ranking has slipped the last two years. In 2011, Forbes ranked the Cowboys second only to Manchester United at $1.81 billion. In 2012, Dallas was tied with the Yankees for third at $1.85 billion.

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/forbes-most-valuable-sports-teams-dallas-cowboys-no-1-in-nfl-no-5-in-the-world.html/

 

[legend]

Imagine if they had someone in charge who actually knew what they were doing?

 

[DC_fan]

Bill Parcells: Cowboys lucky to have Jerry Jones

IRVING, Texas – As Jerry Jones embarks on his 25th training camp this summer as owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, there is one former coach who believes Jones takes too much grief.

“I have a high regard for him,” Bill Parcells said during a conference call for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “He has a tremendous amount of passion for the franchise and I think the people are lucky to have him, lucky to have him as an owner, because they’re not all the same. I can tell you that. Having a guy like that and what he tries to do on a yearly basis there is great.”

Parcells was the Cowboys' coach from 2003-06 and compiled a 34-30 record in addition to two first-round playoff losses. When Jones hired Parcells the Cowboys were coming off three straight 5-11 seasons and were facing a vote for a new stadium. Many assumed the dabbling owner and volatile coach would butt heads often.

The divorce never happened.

“He’s a straightforward, honest guy,” Parcells said. “He really is. That’s all I look for. He was very supportive of me as a coach. Now were there things going on that occasionally I didn’t like? Yeah, there were, but that didn’t inhibit me from going to him, talking things out. He’s really great about that.”

Parcells and Jones talk frequently and will be able to get together this summer in Canton, Ohio, with the Cowboys playing Miami in the Hall of Fame Game.

In a USA Today article earlier this summer, Parcells expressed regret about leaving New England following its Super Bowl season in 1996 because of a falling out with owner Robert Kraft.

His final game as a coach with the Cowboys was an excruciating 21-20 loss at Seattle in the 2006 wild card round when Tony Romo dropped a snap on a short field-goal attempt. Parcells elected to retire as a coach despite finally landing a quarterback and having a roster filled with enough talent to go 13-3 under his replacement, Wade Phillips, in 2007.

He does not look back at his decision to leave Dallas with similar regret.

“I was at a different age,” said Parcells, who was 65 when he left the Cowboys. “To me, I’m trying to win the championship, and when you lose like we lost that game and I’m down the road coaching-wise and age-wise and quite frankly energy-wise at that time. I think about all the things that you’ve got to do just to get back to where you were at that moment and sometimes it’s a little bit overwhelming. I just decided, you know what, that’s enough and I’m getting off the field, and this time I stayed off the field. I still like football I still watch it and with interest and all those things.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowb...ll-parcells-cowboys-lucky-to-have-jerry-jones

 

[DC_fan]

Will The Cowboys' New Defense Be Modeled After The Seattle Seahawks?

We've gone over Monte Kiffin's scheme extensively here at BTB. Early in the offseason, I posted excerpts of large portions of Kiffin's Tampa Bay Buccaneers playbook (they can be found, along with Joey Ickes wonderfully informative Chalkboard series, under the library tab at the top of the site), and from that we've been able to ascertain many aspects of how Kiffin likes to run a defense.

Unfortunately, the NFL landscape is constantly shifting. 'Change or die' sums up the almost yearly task set on coaches, which leads to one of two conclusions. Either my information, derived from a decade-plus-old playbook, is accurate and current, in which case Kiffin's scheme is unlikely to work in the modern NFL, or (the more likely case) Kiffin has been adapting his defense over time, including his time at the college level, and will be introducing something with a number of differences from what we saw in his old playbook.

So no, I don't believe that my previous articles have revealed the design of every one of Kiffin's plays. The diagrams might not even represent any of the plays Kiffin uses now. The series was meant more as an investigation into Kiffin's style. With that in mind, it's useful to take a step back from that and take in other information about the Cowboys' new scheme. And what better source is there for that than the players themselves?

Information in the Jason Garrett era has been flowing from Valley Ranch in a very slow trickle, but a bit has been revealed about the scheme the players are now learning. The first things we heard regarding the changes involved players being told to study the Seattle Seahawks' defense. Of course, the implications of this are vague: perhaps he wants them to copy the Seahawks' defensive energy and effort, or perhaps he wants to implement a specific front that Seattle employs. Who knows? Let's sort through some other comments by players in order to build a better picture.

The comments here are taken from interviews published on and conducted by DallasCowboys.com. The transcriptions, along with any errors and omissions, are my own.

One large complaint about Rob Ryan's defense was the lack of turnovers generated. Seattle, on the other hand, was one of the better teams in the league at generating turnovers. DeMarcus Ware touches on that when describing the changes Kiffin's brought:

I think it's going to make us more aggressive. That's one thing that we needed. We always harp on turnovers; we weren't big on turnovers last year. This defense is really predicated on effort and making it simple, but having the guys really get after it, and use their athleticism to make big plays.
​

Note that we can't really compare Kiffin's defense now to what it was in the '90s. This season, we're comparing it to Rob Ryan. That's how the players are seeing it, as well. So while Ware states that turnovers are being emphasized more, he means more so than they were under Ryan, not more so than he expected from Kiffin.

Still, an emphasis on turnovers is indicative of what Seattle's been trying to accomplish, as well as what Chicago has already achieved.

The Seattle comparisons have inspired some to think that Kiffin may be backing off on a previous hallmark of his scheme: the rushmen rush, always. Seattle incorporates both even and off fronts, mixing one-gap and two-gap responsibilities along the line to manufacture specific outcomes that they believe will be advantageous, be it funneling run plays toward help or collapsing the pocket from the blindside.
Jason Hatcher might have something to say about that:

We're just attacking. We're just attacking up front. You know, attacking, hitting the gaps, linebackers reading off us. We're obligated to make plays this year. We're not sitting back, blocking blockers and then the linebackers run. We actually will make plays up front so I'm very excited about the opportunity that I get to play in this scheme...
If you can make plays and you're just not sitting back holding up a block, it's a good day.
​

It may not be a definitive declaration, but it seems so far that Hatcher hasn't been two-gapping, and he's quite happy about it. This, by the way, coming from someone expected to play the 1-technique (known by some as the 4-3's 'Nose Tackle') at 290-295 pounds. I don't think he'd choose that playing weight if he expected to be impersonating Kenyon Coleman this season.

I'll also note that I'm relieved to see a move to strict one-gap play. While two-gap schemes look good for fancy blitzes (it looks more sound against the run, on paper, when you can assign multiple gaps to one guy), they're lacking in both excitement and effectiveness. When you look at our line, you see a bunch of smaller, explosive athletes who can get off the ball, up the field, and around their blockers in a hurry. It's a waste of their talents to have them do otherwise.

In the same vein as what Ware was discussing, this seems more like a defense that will be emulating the Seahawks' playing style and mentality more than their specific fronts and play-calls.

Kiffin's style, however, is to be fundamentally sound. Barry Church can refresh our memories on what that means:

...It's definitely a gap responsible defense. So everybody has their gap, and there's no gray area as far as, "oh, there's guys in the hook area, so, maybe I should have 'em or maybe the corner should have 'em." Everybody has their responsibilities and knows what they have to do...
​

Is this what got Rob Ryan fired? Gray areas? Church seems to be speaking from experience, and at the same time explaining what amounted to a large amount of fingers pointed, shoulders shrugged, and heads shaken within the Cowboys' secondary in recent years.

My feelings on gray areas are themselves in somewhat of a gray area. Jason Garrett's offense uses them - they're called option routes. The design of the play is some shade of gray until the quarterback and receiver both make a read and shift things to (hopefully) identical renditions in black-and-white. The ambiguity is part of the effectiveness, but it also creates a sizeable hurdle for new players and slow learners. If we had eleven Sean Lee's to take the field, then I wouldn't mind a defense full of gray areas. It's an exercise in risk management that I'm simply not qualified to engage in, though it leaves open to debate whether or not the gray areas in Garrett's offense are going to be sharpened a bit under Bill Callahan's watch.

But when Kiffin told his players to watch Seattle's game tape in order to prepare for his defense, it appears his meaning was different than first thought. Decades of experience as a coach have likely impressed on Kiffin that athletes don't view defensive schemes (for the most part) from the ground up, philosophically. They're more likely to look at it relative to what they know, establish connections, and build ever-upward. It's much like comparing a baby acquiring its first language, as a whole, on its own, with an adult studying a new language, using lessons conducted in the native language and establishing connections between the two.

The majority of Dallas Cowboys defenders, right now, speak RobRyan-ese. It was built on top of the language each player spoke before joining the team. So when I go up to a RobRyan-ese speaker and want to introduce him to MonteKiffin-ese, and I say 'Seattle,' I'm not trying to establish a brand new start. Rather, I'm trying to introduce my own language by way of some form of common ground. Between Kiffin and Ryan, Seattle might just be that link. In that case, we don't have to think about how much more like Seattle we can be, but rather how far beyond Seattle (and thus beyond Ryan), this team can go on the way to where Kiffin wants them to be.

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/7/18/4535184/dallas-cowboys-new-defense-modeled-after-the-seattle-seahawks

 

[pennywisealfie]

I assume you would have probably seen them all many times, DC, but on Monday on ESPN 2 they are playing 5 episodes of Superbowl Highlights and they are all of the Cowboys Superbowl wins.

 

[DC_fan]

I assume you would have probably seen them all many times, DC, but on Monday on ESPN 2 they are playing 5 episodes of Superbowl Highlights and they are all of the Cowboys Superbowl wins.

Yeah I have DVDs of all the Cowboys SB wins.

 

[DC_fan]

Tyrone Crawford out for the season!

Its the first day of training camp and the Cowboys have lost DE Tyrone Crawford for the season. He suffered a torn Achilles.

 

[DC_fan]

Injury report: Spencer gets nicked up

July, 21, 2013 9:52 PM CT

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

OXNARD, Calif. -- The Cowboys suffered a potentially season-ending injury during their first training camp practice.

Here's our daily injury report:

• Tyrone Crawford suffered a torn left Achilles tendon during an individual noncontact drill. It's the second consecutive season the Cowboys have lost a player to this injury in training camp. Last season, linebacker Caleb McSurdy suffered the same injury during individual drills.

• Anthony Spencer missed the last hour of practice with a balky left knee. Spencer said he tweaked the same knee he hyperextended during offseason workouts. Spencer said he rested as a precaution. Kyle Wilber replaced him with the first team.

• Nate Livings (foot) is on the physically unable to perform list, but there's a hope he can return by midweek.

• Ryan Cook didn't practice because he failed Saturday's conditioning test.

• Ronald Leary (calf) missed practice, and his status is day-to-day.

• Mackenzy Bernadeau (hamstring) hasn't practiced the entire offseason. He missed time recovering from shoulder surgery, and now he's out with a hamstring injury suffered during the conditioning test.

• Demetress Bell, like Cook, didn't pass the conditioning test. Until he passes it, he won't participate.

• L.P. Ladouceur (calf) is out, but the team isn't concerned about his long-term status.

• Jay Ratliff (hamstring) will practice when his strained hamstring heals. Ratliff is on the PUP list, but he passed the conditioning test. He strained his hamstring while running it.

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4710382/injury-report-anthony-spencer-gets-nicked-up

 

[DC_fan]

Cowboys Stadium to become AT&T Stadium?

Plenty of speculation around that the Cowboys that may bring in AT&T as the naming rights sponsor of the stadium.