Cowboys Team Report

Notes And Quotes

Tight end Jason Witten could miss the remainder of the preseason with a lacerated spleen that occurred during Monday night's game against the Oakland Raiders. Witten was examined Tuesday and had an MRI, the team's website reported Wednesday. An NFL.com report cited sources as saying there was no indication yet whether Witten would need surgery. But it appears the injury might be serious enough to hold the veteran out until the Sept. 5 regular-season opener against the New York Giants.
The injury apparently occurred during the first quarter of the Cowboys' 3-0 win when Witten caught a pass from Tony Romo that resulted in a 2-yard loss. Witten took a hard hit from Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain and went to the sideline.
However, he returned for the next series and had an 8-yard reception before the starters retired to the bench for the evening.
Witten has been the model of resiliency for the Cowboys, missing only one game in his 10-year career. That came in 2003 when he sustained a broken jaw.
With Witten out, rookies James Hanna and Andrew Szczerba will get more opportunities in practice.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shot down reports that the team was interested in signing free-agent receiver Plaxico Burress. Jones said the Cowboys haven't even discussed Burress internally. He said they haven't thought about him at all and plan to go with the young receivers they have at least through training camp before thinking about bringing in a veteran.
"We haven't even discussed that internally at all," Jones said regarding Burress. "It's not been discussed at any level in our organization one way or the other. We're going to go to war with, so to speak, or go into the season with question marks at the third receiver, there's no doubts, no matter who it is."
Stephen Jones tried to take back some comments he made on a local radio show regarding top pick Morris Claiborne's absence from practice with a sprained knee. Jones appeared to be frustrated when he said: "Mo Claiborne's got to get out there. The times he's been out there, it's been impressive. But he certainly can't make the club in the tub, if you will. He's got to get out there. It's time. We got to start having a mentality that we're going to play through things."
Of course, Claiborne is going to make the team. And Jones said he was talking in general about injured guys and didn't mean to call out his top pick.
"I didn't rip Mo," Jones said. "It's wrong. There's no frustration at all. I have zero worries about Mo Claiborne. How that gets out there is beyond me."
Claiborne missed Monday's preseason opener against the Raiders but expects to be back on the practice field this week and play in the second preseason game against the Chargers.
Claiborne said he hasn't heard any frustration from the Cowboys but said he was frustrated himself.
"Of course, I'm frustrated," Claiborne said. "I missed time in the past due to my wrist. Then have something that causes me to miss more time is frustrating. But I can't do nothing about it. I can just listen to what trainers have me doing and try to get back as fast I can."
The Cowboys have turned to yoga to help them get ready for the season. Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware credits offseason yoga work with helping improve his neck strength and flexibility since he suffered a major neck stinger in 2009.
Coach Jason Garrett said Ware is among a number of Cowboys, including himself, who have been benefitted from yoga. The others are tight end Jason Witten, defensive end Kenyon Coleman, defensive tackle Jason Hatcher who are among a group of more than a dozen players who participated in a weekly yoga session during the offseason.
"When you're a big guy and you get a little bit older, the (added) flexibility is huge," Garrett said. "Everything we can do to try to help develop our players individually to become the best they can be, we believe, is going to help our football team. And the yoga program is a part of that.
"A lot of guys embraced it. I think it was a good thing for our our team," Garrett said. "Flexibility is important for players. If they can maintain that flexibility, it's going to help you with your agility and your explosiveness and your strength."
Quote To Note:
"And I will say this: I'm also betting it because I just can't accept standing right here that we will be as disappointing as we were last year. I can't accept that, because I know that it was my most disappointing year as a Cowboy, and we can't have individually players play at the level that they did last year and not do better. I mean, I can without any stretch of imagination see where we could have been where the Giants were as far as getting into the tournament and then turning around and having some of that success. That's not hard for me to reach there, and I'm unabashed, I don't have any problem saying that publicly."
—Jerry Jones on his expectations for the season and why he is excited.
Source Yahoo

Cowboys Team Report.

Inside Slant:

Offensive line was the one of the Cowboys' biggest concerns in the offseason following last year's 8-8 campaign.

Owner Jerry Jones said it has actually held the team back the last two years. The Cowboys made a couple of moves in the offseason to help solidify the position but a rash of injuries the first couple of weeks of camp has Jones worried and frustrated that the offensive line will be a problem again and not hold up for quarterback Tony Romo.

The top three centers on the team -- Phil Costa, Bill Nagy and Kevin Kowalski -- were sidelined for the preseason opener. Nagy and Kowalski are out indefinitely. The Cowboys had hoped to find someone to push the undersized Costa for the starting job but that has been to no avail. Now they are just holding their breath that he is OK from a back injury.

Guards Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings were signed in the offseason to solidify the interior of the line and both were sidelined the first two weeks of camp with hip and hamstring injuries. Their injuries are not serious but the line has been set back in its ability to develop chemistry and cohesiveness.

Jones is worried that the line won't hold up for Romo.

"I think frustration is probably good in this case," Jones said. I must tell you that I am holding my breath a little bit because I need the interior of this line to be a source of confidence for Tony and to feel good about his protection in there. We can talk about the running game. I know that helps protect him in our passing game. But I look at it principally by it beginning with protection for him. That's got me a little angst right now."

At this point, Romo is not worried about the development of the line. He believes the Cowboys have enough time to get things settled. He said the Cowboys are working hard and he is just going to go out and do his job.

"I think obviously we'd like things to be a little different, but we've got to roll. Guys are working hard and they're going to get an opportunity," Romo said. "We gotta get some reps with a lot of guys, the snaps things like that will be good for guys to get that time, so we'll see what happens."

The snaps have been the biggest problem with Costa, Nagy and Kowalski missing time. The Cowboys don't think Costa's injury is serious and expect him back for the second preseason game against the San Diego.

But just getting quality practice reps has been a problem because the snaps from David Arkin and Harland Gunn, who both have been moved from guard to center, have been a circus at times.

The Cowboys have tried to preach patience and they understand it's a new role for both players, especially Arkin. But they also understand you can't play football if you can't get the snap from center.

"This is a really important thing," Garrett said. "We get it. We preach the ball (security) thing to our team on a daily basis. Typically, you don't have (three) centers on your team go down in a span of a couple of weeks, so we're just trying to make the next best decision."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: ‘I can see our defense being special’

SAN DIEGO.– After the Cowboys held the opposition scoreless for the first six quarters of preseason football, team owner Jerry Jones had high praise for the defense.
“I can see our defense being special,” Jones said.
Jones loved what he watched in the second quarter of the Cowboys’ 28-20 loss to San Diego on Saturday, when Brandon Carr — the Cowboys’ prized acquisition of 2012 — made two interceptions.
With the injured Jason Witten sitting next to him, he turned to the tight end and said, “If we get a couple of plays like that in the regular season, it’s a difference-maker. It has you sitting there in the playoffs.”
The Cowboys haven’t been to the postseason the last two seasons, in part because they haven’t had personnel in their secondary to make plays like the once Carr pulled off Saturday.
“I am encouraged, after what I saw tonight, that we can get some turnovers,” Jones said.

What went right, what went wrong for Dallas Cowboys

Full story: Star-Telegram.com

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne takes a moment shortly after the team's 28-20 loss to the San Diego Chargers Saturday August 18, 2012 in San Diego, California.