The Unstoppable D-Rob, Cutler Looks Sharp, and More Notes from Cowboys Practice

The blogosphere is erupting with news from the first day of practice between the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos – we already discussed how Pacman Jones tried to rip into Brandon Marshall – let’s run down the other notes from practice.

DenverBroncos.com —

In defensive line vs. offensive line one-on-ones, Dewayne Robertson looked to be unstoppable. Whether it was one-on-ones or two-on-twos, the 6-foot-1, 308-pound defensive tackle consistently bullied his way to the quarterback.

Dallas Morning News —

Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler was confusing some of the Cowboys’ secondary players with some shoulder fakes during 11-on-11. Adam Jones bit on one fake on a completion.

Orange Mane (requires registration) —

The first portion of practice involved the teams split up doing their warm up drills. The Broncos corners and receivers spent a lot of time working on the jam.  Royal was the hardest to jam at the line. Paymah and Bly were actually the best at bumping their guy and then hanging on his pocket. The others had mixed results. (Darrell) Jackson had trouble being very physical at the line.

[…]

The biggest blow up was DeMarcus Ware on Ryan Clady. He just made a slight move and then was around Clady in a heartbeat. Clady didn’t even touch him as he scrambled to get around him. It was definitely a “welcome to the NFL” moment for Clady. The good news is Clady was never beat that bad again the whole practice and it happened in a drill without anyone behind center. Hamilton and Kuper seemed to be the most consistent of the players during this drill.

Dallas Morning News —

Back to the 11-on-11 team drills. … Right out of the gate, Broncos QB Jay Cutler connected with Nate Jackson for a 17-yard gain with Roy Williams defending in man coverage. Then, Daniel Graham caught a nice pass against the Cowboys’ zone coverage.

… Cutler had no problems throwing Adam Jones’ direction. Darrell Jackson caught a pass right in front of Jones, who was playing off Jackson at the time. Backup QB Patrick Ramsey connected with Keary Colbert when linebacker Kevin Burnett turned the wrong direction. Jackson made a quick turnaround catch at the line of scrimmage, and Tearrius George snuffed it out.  Clifford Russell also caught a deep ball with Evan Oglesby in tow.

DallasCowboys.com —

Rookie cornerback Mike Jenkins found a new way to win a battle in the one-on-one drill. Facing veteran Keary Colbert, Jenkins used the five-yard contact zone to his advantage and just threw Colbert to the ground, about two yards out of bounds as the pass just fluttered by. Drafted not only for his quickness, Jenkins showed some upper-body strength as well.

[…]

The one-one-one blocking drills were rather one-sided in the Cowboys’ favor. Considering Denver uses a zone-blocking scheme, the undersized Broncos’ line was no match for the likes of Chris Canty, Tank Johnson and Jay Ratliff. On the flip side, the Cowboys’ offensive line pushed around the Broncos’ smaller defenders in not only the individual blocking drills, but in team drills as well.

Dallas Morning News —

In nine-on-seven drills, the Broncos had the best of the Cowboys. (Jamie) Winborn took Marion Barber to the ground on the first play and hit him hard on the second carry. Later Jason Witten collapsed the backside of the Denver line, giving Barber room to cut back for a big gain.

(Photo credit: AP/David Zalubowski)