Cowboys Corner

It's Buehler's job to lose, though Bailey has edge in numbers so far

Rookie kicker Dan Bailey was asked Sunday morning about going 14-for-14 in the first three days of training camp as he tries to unseat veteran David Buehler.

"It’s going to happen eventually, probably, but it’s been a good start," Bailey said Sunday morning. "I’ve just got to keep plugging away. We’ve still got a long way to go."

Bailey, the Lou Groza Award winner as the nation’s best kicker last season, jinxed himself. On Sunday afternoon, he was wide left on a 48-yard attempt and later hit the right upright and missed from 43. He's now 17-of-19 for training camp. 

"You always want to make all your kicks, but like I said, they're not all going to go in," said Bailey, an Oklahoma State product. "When they don't, you go back and look at it and see what you did and move on."

Buehler made only 2-of-5 kicks Sunday, though one was a hurry-up from 58 yards, and he now is 12 of 20. He has been wide left, wide right and short from 35, 38, 41, 44, 34, 58, 38 and 44.

Buehler didn’t exactly didn’t get a vote of confidence from Jones, who said, “I think he can win the job.” Despite that, it’s Buehler’s job to lose, kicking coach Chris Boinol said. Buehler said the same, but knows he'll have to perform better to keep the job.

“Dan’s a great kicker,” Buehler said. “I knew when he got signed he was going to be stiff competition. Competition brings the best out of you, and it forces you to put them through the pipes.

“He’s doing a good job. …I just have to go out there and prove I can get the job done.”

-- Charean Williams

A married, mature Martellus Bennett hoping for bigger role and better season

 

It's a different Martellus Bennett who is at Cowboys training camp this season.

The former Aggies tight end is no longer talking about moon rocks and cartoon characters. He is focused on family, football and finally living up to his enormous potential.

Credit the mature Bennett attitude to his recent wedding to his new wife Sigourney, whom he calls Siggi.

And while he remains creative off the field, Bennett said he will no longer be doing the controversial videos that got him trouble in past. Namely the Black Olympics, the profane rap video in Cowboys gear that netted him a $25,000 fine and one dressing up like Osama Bin Laden.

"It's weird cause I don't just represent myself," Bennett said. "I have to represent my wife in everything I do. I dont want her to get a bad reflection cause of the things that I do. That is the difference now. I really care what happens. I didn't care what nobody said about me until she started to care. That is the difference."

The question is how will it translate on the field and hopefully result in a bigger impact from Bennett whose numbers have been underwhelming since he was taken in the second round of the 2008 draft.

Bennett said he is more focused now because all he does is concentrate on football and call his wife in between practices and after meetings.

Bennett has even asked for a bigger role in the offense and chance to play in the slot more.

"I'm trying to do whatever they need me to do," Bennett said. "I want to show what I can do and get more chances to do so."

 

Clarence Hill

Austin has a big fan in new Rangers reliever

Reliever Mike Adams, who is from Corpus Christi, got wind that he might be traded to the Texas Rangers on Saturday night. So he wore a Miles Austin jersey to Petco Field for Sunday’s game. Adams, indeed, was traded to the Rangers later Sunday.

Austin can’t wait to meet Adams, who is a Cowboys fan.

“I think it’s awesome,” Austin said of Adams’ wearing Austin’s No. 19 jersey. “I need to get one of his jerseys. I’ve got to find out what number he is when he comes over. I’m definitely going to go to the store and pick one of those up.

“…It’s a great feeling when anyone from any profession, especially baseball, [wears your jersey]. That’s America’s pastime. I used to play baseball, but I ended up not being able to hit the curveball when I hit the eighth grade. So I give all the credit to those guys.”

-- Charean Williams

Newman unfazed by all the talk about his future

Owner Jerry Jones said Saturday not to assume Terence Newman would have been released had the Cowboys signed Nnamdi Asomugha. But it probably is a good assumption. Newman is scheduled to make an $8 million base and count $10 million against the salary cap. Asomugha signed a five-year, $60 million deal with the Eagles. That would have been a lot of money for cornerbacks.

For his part, Newman said he doesn't care about speculation about his future.

"This is a business," Newman said Sunday, the first day he has talked in training camp. "I’m just focused on trying to get better, and trying to make this team better. That’s why I waited until [Sunday to talk]. I figured this would’ve died down a little, but obviously it didn’t."

There had been some thought that Newman might be cut anyway, in a salary-cap move, as the Cowboys tried to shed millions to get underneath the $120 million cap. But Newman made it to training camp and is still here.

"When I was a little kid, I always wanted to play in the NFL," he said. "It didn’t matter what team I got to. I wanted to play. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to work."

Newman, who turns 33 before the season, played through a rib injury last season when he allowed 58 receptions for 871 yards and three touchdowns. It was not one of his better seasons. 

"I don't make excuses for anything," Newman said. "If you go out and play, if you are well enough to play, then you should compete. I took injections to play, but I was out there. That was not an excuse for me. I'm not going to make an excuse and say I was hurt. That is not me."

-- Charean Williams

 

 

No Barber, so who’s in for short yardage? Maybe a committee, Garrett says

The Cowboys haven’t put in their short-yardage and goal-line offense yet, so they haven’t even thought about who’s going to get the ball now that Marion Barber is gone.

They have used Tashard Choice out of the Wildcat before, but he’s out with a calf strain for a couple of weeks.

So who will it be?

“We haven’t discussed that yet,” Garrett said. “We’ll give them all a chance to do it and see who emerges, and if we have to do that by committee, we’ll certainly do that as well.”

-- Carlos Mendez

 

Garrett: It's ugly, but the Cowboys' young players are keeping up

Asked if there’s a pleasant surprise in camp yet, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said it’s the way the team’s youngest players have absorbed the information thrown at them.

“It’s ugly. Don’t get me wrong. It’s ugly on both sides of the ball,” Garrett said. “It’s not real clean. We have a long way to go. There is a lot of information that each side is presenting to the other side, and for them to hang in there and survive, we’re pleasantly surprised by that.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Keeping two kickers? Not so fast, Garrett says

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones floated the idea that the team could keep two kickers, David Buehler for kickoffs and rookie free agent Dan Bailey for field goals.

Bailey has been that impressive through the first few days of camp.

But head coach Jason Garrett isn’t ready to commit.

“I think that’s premature,” he said of the two-kicker thought. “The whole idea throughout our football team is to create competition. We want to do that at every spot on our team. So we’re certainly doing that in the kicking game.”

-- Carlos Mendez

 

Training camp fight didn't surprise Garrett: 'Those things happen in football.'

The training camp fight between nosetackle Jay Ratliff and what seemed like the entire offensive line a day ago in camp didn’t surprise coach Jason Garrett.

In pads, everyone gets a little more revved up, he said.

“There’s always a fine line,” Garrett said. “You want to compete against each other and push the edge and push the limit of with competition and physicalness but still understand that we’re teammates. Those things happen in football. They’ve happened in football since the beginning of time, and I thought our guys handled it well.”

It looked like center Phil Costa was in the middle of everything.

“It was something between those two,” rookie guard Bill Nagy said with a smile. “They were just competing. They’re both competitors. They’re both tough guys. Sometimes that happens.”

-- Carlos Mendez

 

Receiver promises he and Jimmy Robinson will be back soon

Receiver Teddy Williams said he and receivers coach Jimmy Robinson, who collided on the sideline in a punt drill on Saturday, will both be fine and back on the field soon.

“It’s just a blessing that neither one of us got hurt really bad,” Williams said. “So we’ll both be back. We’ll be good.”

Robinson was knocked on his back and unconscious in the collision with the 6-3, 200-pound second-year player, who suffered a hamstring injury when he tried to pull up to avoid hitting the coach.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said it will be a day or two before Robinson, who was taken to a San Antonio hospital and released about two hours later, comes back to practice.

“He’s certainly very lucid and the same Jimmy Robinson we know,” Garrett said. “We just need to take any precaution necessary when something like that happens.”

Williams still couldn’t believe it happened.

“You could play football 30 or 40 years and something like that would never happen,” he said. “It was just a freak accident. It was nothing intended. There’s no hard feelings. It’s love. I love my coach so much, and I was really, really worried about it.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Cowboys still in hunt for a safety or two after Huff re-signs with Oakland

Free agent safety Michael Huff returned to Oakland, agreeing to re-sign with the Raiders. How much interest the Cowboys actually had in Huff remains unknown, but Huff, an Irving native, wanted to return home. The Cowboys surely didn't want to spend the money the Raiders spent to keep Huff.

Dallas is waiting for the safety market to come back to it after free agent safeties Quintin Mikell (4 yrs., $27 million), Eric Weddle (5 yrs., $40 million) and Roman Harper (4 yrs., $28 million) signed for huge money.

"I am pretty impressed by the kinds of numbers that some of those early safeties have gotten," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "But having said that, we’re not out of the running for free agent safeties at all. That doesn’t mean how hard and fast we’re running relative to some of those numbers. I don’t want to imply that those are the kinds of numbers, but we’re in negotiations right now."

Browns free agent safety Abram Elam tweeted Saturday night that he had spoken to Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

"Just hung up with Rob Ryan he spoke about how good [Terence Newman] and the defense is and can be," Elam wrote.

Gerald Sensabaugh, who started for the Cowboys last season, also remains a possibility.

Jones said the Cowboys could sign two safeties. Unproven second-year players Barry Church and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah are working with the first team right now in training camp.

-- Charean Williams