Blogging The Boys
Discipline became a talking point on Wednesday
The Dallas Cowboys went through a testy, scrappy practice on Wednesday. We take a look at who helped themselves and who struggled.
Nate Thomas
The Cowboys avoided the worst case scenario with Tyler Guyton, as their left tackle’s ACL is still intact and he will only miss a few weeks. Still, the Cowboys need someone else to step up in the interim, and it wasn’t immediately clear who that would be.
Wednesday’s practice changed that. Nate Thomas, the team’s seventh-round pick from last year, stepped in to handle the first team reps at left tackle.
Schottenheimer has singled out Thomas before as someone showing real improvement, so this isn’t exactly surprising. Still, Thomas being the next man up at the most important position on the offensive line is significant considering the presence of longer tenured players.
Kemon Hall and Troy Pride Jr.
These two are getting lumped together for good reason. The Cowboys cornerbacks are currently accounting for a majority of the team’s injured list, granting opportunities to players towards the end of the roster. Both Kemon Hall and Troy Pride Jr. seem to be the two taking most advantage of it.
On Wednesday, the two took turns working with the first team defense, depending on where DaRon Bland lined up. When Bland played in the slot, Pride took the field on the outside. When Bland was out wide, Hall came in to play in the slot.
Israel Mukuamu later saw some work outside in place of Pride, but he has better odds of making the roster. Hall looked like a potential 53rd man last year before an injury, while Pride is a former fourth-round pick out of Notre Dame.
Jaydon Blue
The eve of training camp brought unsubstantiated reports that rookie running back Jaydon Blue had work ethic issues, despite there being hardly any evidence to corroborate such a claim. Schottenheimer took a moment on Wednesday to specifically praise Blue.
Blue has an intriguing skillset, for sure, and Schottenheimer’s comments Wednesday certainly don’t sound like someone with poor work ethic. Seemingly every running back has had a moment or two already in camp, but Blue might be hitting his stride now.
Discipline
There’s a tough line to walk in training camp. Coaches always want to preach effort and intensity, and that’s been a key point of emphasis for Schottenheimer since taking the job, but fights cannot be tolerated. Earlier in camp, Schottenheimer pulled some players early for getting into a scrap.
Wednesday, though, saw the intensity boil over to a new level. Schottenheimer made it explicitly clear how unacceptable it was, stopping practice to have the players run sprints.
Schottenheimer even ended practice early because of it. He gave a fiery speech to his players, reportedly with some colorful language, and CeeDee Lamb later gave a PG version of the speech that touched on the team’s lack of discipline.
