Training Camp report...

[cubuffsman78]

Just a few things that I've been hearing from Cowboys camp...

I'm sure everyone knows about TO not practicing. The feelings I have is that he just doesn't want to practice. I'm actually starting to become annoyed by this mysterious injury. I guess I'll get over it if he produces in the season.

The big positive from TO has been the time he's putting in working with rookie free agent WR Sam Hurd of Northern Illinois. Hurd has been the most exciting WR of Cowboys camp. He's got great hands and body control. He's playing his way into the 4th WR spot on the team.

The offensive line is definitely the worry of the offense. They've been good at run blocking and Jones and Barber both produced nicely in the intersquad scrimmage Saturday. There are questions at every position pretty much. Fabini has been a bust. He might not make it out of camp. Pettiti and former 1st round pick Marc Colombo have completely outperformed him. Colombo has impressed Parcells with his hustle and fight. He's got a leg up on the RT position. Flozell is yet to return to form. He's been demoted to 2nd team right now and Petiti's actually been playing with the first team. We all know what he did last season. Now he's slimmed down and has had a better camp, but I still don't feel great about him being the starting LT. When it's all said and done, Flozell should move back into that spot, but I'm not a big Flozell fan. He commits a lot of stupid holding and false start penalties, but a healthy Flozell is the best the Cowboys can do. It's a "you can't live with him, you can't live without him situation". There hasn't been much news from the guard spots with Kosier and Rivera. So I"m going to take the no news is good news approach.

The best thing to happen for the OL has been Andre Gurode. He's shining in camp and has a good grip on the center position. He's stronger and more intelligent than Al Johnson when it comes to reading defenses.

Defensively the Cowboys have looked top notch. Terrance Newman has been phenominal. He never gets beat and is making great plays in run support as well. There's a major Newman for Pro Bowl push going on already with the local Dallas media.

Pat Watkins is showing that he's a playmaker. He'll be the starter at FS by the season opener.

Greg Ellis was grumbling about moving to OLB at the start of camp, but he's really come on in the past few days. I think he's still worth his usual 8 sacks a game.

Marcus Spears was lost on the 1st day of camp, but he'll be back in time for a couple preseason games. Jay Ratliff stepped up in Spears' absence. Parcells is high on Ratliff and has talked about him competing for the starting DE spot. He'll be in the rotation this year for sure. Chris Canty has been very impressive as well. He and Spears have the athleticism and talent to be a pair of great DEs for a long time.

Vanderjagt has been struggling. He's hit less than 50% of his kicks in camp. He says there's a correction he's needed to make in his mechanics. Hopefully he figures it out.

The Cowboys are a playoff team. If the OL can come together then I consider them a viable Super Bowl contender. I'm not considering them anything more until I see a solid OL though.