Cowboys Corner

Barber practices; Felix sits out

Marion Barber practiced Wednesday in a limited capacity, coach Wade Phillips noted, but Barber was able to do more than last week.

Phillips wouldn't commit to saying that Barber will play, but he did say he's optimistic, so it does seem rather promising that he will give it a go. Phillips said Barber felt as if he could have played Monday against Carolina.

Felix Jones did not practice with a posterior cruciate ligament strain, and his availability for Sunday is highly doubtful.

Jeff Caplan

Bradie James: "I think we don't need to be sexy anymore"

Linebacker Bradie James wants the Cowboys defense to just go out there and play physical, hard-nosed, straight-up defense. Forget about the fancy stuff, he says. Well, he said it like this:

 

"I think we don’t need to be sexy anymore. I think we just need to go out there and get ugly wins. I’ll take these ugly wins. The sexiness and trying to make big plays and all the gambling that we do, we don’t need to do that defensively. I think this team just needs to go out there and just play ball. It doesn’t have to be glamorous, just go out there and get a win and then we’ll take it and we’ll move forward. There’s no need to bring sexy back, just go out there and win and play hard."

 

I'm not sure if James is indicting Wade Phillips' scheme as being overly involved with gimmicks or not. In the opener at Tampa, the Cowboys got burned in the first half while trying to stunt and run blitz, and actually outschemed itself. At halftime, James and fellow inside linebacker Keith Brooking went to Phillips and told him they needed to go to their base defense. Which they did and had more success.

 

Jeff Caplan

Jenkins beats out Scandrick as starter

Orlando Scandrick announced that Mike Jenkins will start Sunday against the Broncos. It was supposed to be Scandrick's turn to start in the co-starter rotation set up by Wade Phillips before the season. But, a combination of Scandrick's tough game against the Giants and Jenkins' better play against Carolina, including an interception, had the coaching staff re-thinking the starting job.

"As of right now, they named me the starter for the week," Jenkins said, "and I’m just going to keep doing what I was doing, keep my same mentality and go out there and play."

Jenkins' prize is covering his Florida pal Brandon Marshall and another solid receiver in Eddie Royal.

Scandrick, as he typically does, stood front and center, made no excuses and vowed to improve and earn his shot at starting again.

"I didn’t play as well as I wanted to when I got my opportunity," Scandrick said. "The NFL is all about timing and opportunity, so I’m going to have to wait my turn now."

Jeff Caplan

Felix, Barber uncertain

Felix Jones was in good spirits Wednesday morning. He had a few brief words for the media and said that it is a possibility that he could be out through the bye week with the strained PCL in his knee.

Obviously, it looks extremely doubtful that he'll play this week at Denver. The Cowboys play at Kansas City the following Sunday before heading into the bye week.

As for Marion Barber, he typically avoided the media like the plague we must be. To his surprise he passed a group of writers on his way to meetings and before a word could be uttered, he broke into a slight run and motored down the hallway. Will he play Sunday? Maybe.

Jeff Caplan 

Flozell up to old tricks -- er, trips

To follow up on Charean's prior blog post about potential fines coming down, it looks like a Giants fan has way too much time on his hands. On the other hand, by spotting the latest Flozell Adams infraction and posting it for the whole wide world to see, he might have helped the league make it three fines in three games on big Flo, quite a run to start the season.

Flozell, fined last week for leg whipping Justin Tuck, did it again Monday night against Julius Peppers. The nifty, yet illegal and dangerous, little move went undetected by the refs, but it didn't sneak past the attentive eyes of this Giants fan.

Jeff Caplan

Where's Bennett?

Tight end Martellus Bennett has had two drops in the past two games and hasn't been a factor in the passing game as was anticipated throughout training camp.

"Hopefully he can work in more and I think there's plays for him to be made," Phillips said. "We have quite a few guys we're getting the football too. Martellus will be part of that."

Tony Romo tried to get Bennett a touchdown in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-1 from the 1. With Carolina stuffing the line, Romo lobbed a fade to Bennett, but it sailed well out of reach.

Jeff Caplan

Jenkins impresses, could be closing in as full-time starter

Cornerback Mike Jenkins had a solid game Monday night and it will force the coaching staff to re-think the rotating starts strategy employed the first three games with fellow second-year corner Orlando Scandrick.

It's Scandrick's turn to start in Denver, but hold the phone.

"I thought Jenkins had a good game. That's to be determined tomorrow really," coach Wade Phillips said of evaluating the rotation system. "We're going to discuss it."

Jenkins picked off a Jake Delhomme deep ball Monday night for the team's first interception of the season.

"He played real well. He did miss a tackle, but he did make a lot of tackles," Phillips said. 'Of course, he made our first interception, which everyone was relieved."

A factor to be considered, Phillips said, is that Scandrick plays on the corner in regular packages and moves to the slot in the sub-packages used on passing downs. Jenkins plays corner full time. Phillips said it's been more difficult than expected for Scandrick to make the switch in mid-stream. 

Jeff Caplan

Barber wanted to play, told no

Marion Barber wanted to play Monday night, but the medical and coaching staffs felt it was in his best interest to keep him out.

Phillips said Barber participated in only a few plays in practices last week. Barber was dressed out in full pads Wednesday through Saturday and was on the field during the first 25 minutes of practice -- when media is permitted to watch -- but he did little else during team drills.

"Medically we didn't feel like he was ready [to play] and we couldn't take a chance on losing him for a longer period of time," Phillips said.

Phillips stated the obvious that Barber will want to play Sunday at Denver, but whether he will or not is uncertain.

Jeff Caplan

Wade doesn't offer much on Felix

Coach Wade Phillips said he doesn't know the severity of Felix Jones' knee injury. Phillips said Jones has a strained PCL. Phillips said it will be a wait-and-see on Jones, noting that these things can get better in a hurry. Of course, he also noted that Marion Barber, who missed Monday's game, seemed to be doing OK in the buildup to the game, but couldn't go.

"Day to day," Phillips said on Felix's status.

With that, Wade offered no real update on Barber either. If Barber and Felix are out for the Denver game on Sunday, that leaves Tashard Choice, who after last night's 18 carries and four catches, seems durable enough and capable enough to handle the load. The Cowboys might have to put newly signed running back Chauncey Washington to work depending on the two injured players' status.

Jeff Caplan

Could Mike Jenkins have solidified the starting job at RCB?

Mike Jenkins got the Cowboys' first turnover of the season on a Jake Delhomme bomb. Jenkins had a solid game with three tackles and pretty good coverage.

He's been locked in a battle with Orlando Scandrick for the starting job at right cornerback. Scandrick did not impress last week against the Giants and he was mostly unnoticeable against Carolina.

"It's real big for me because I always brag that I'm going to get the first interception and I think I did last year, too," Jenkins said of his pick. "We're all coming out as competitors and we're all going to see who can get the most interceptions and I'm trying to get that."

Jenkins had a pick taken away at Tampa Bay when Gerald Sensabaugh was flagged for defensive holding.

Jeff Caplan