OXNARD, CA – The Dallas Cowboys just completed their second day of padded practice and wow did things get exciting here in Oxnard this morning. The pads were on for the second time this week and the offense and defense had a blast going against each other on 7-on-7.
The trio of CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, and Michael Gallup made it a rough day for the secondary. This may be the best wide receiver core that Dak Prescott has had in his entire NFL career. Prescott had touchdown passes to CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Jake Ferguson, and Peyton Hendershot. He threw no interceptions today and looked lights out.
CeeDee Lamb mentioned during an interview with @1053thefan that the offense “is in Dak’s hands now”. We saw Dak Prescott working on more zone read today during practice than we did all last season.
The battle for the WR4 spot looks to be down to either Jalen Tolbert or KaVontae Turpin. Jalen Brooks has had a great camp. It appears Simi Fehoko is losing the battle and unfortunately, suffered a quad injury that kept him out of practice today.
Last year it was no secret that the offense was more the problem than the defense was for Dallas. This time last year during training camp you could clearly see the leg up that the defense had over the offense. I mean Micah Parsons and that D-line is hard to stop but this season we are seeing something totally different. Yes, Parsons is still getting his daily sacks on QB Dak Prescott but that’s Parsons. He’s going to get his in. As far as the rest of the defense, well they look like they are getting their butts handed to them by this new offense Mike McCarthy has put together.
The offseason was a chance for Dallas to go back to the drawing board and figure out what they needed to make their offense more explosive than it’s been in recent years. Last year the Cowboys relied heavily on CeeDee Lamb with some help of Michael Gallup who returned midway through the season after a torn ACL. That was really all they had for wide receivers. Prescott looked for TE Dalton Schultz a lot when Lamb wasn’t open, Schultz is now with the Texans. And if that failed they would hand the ball off to Ezekiel Elliott who is no longer with the organization either.
Some would say they weren’t starting off with much this offseason but Dallas’s work during that time is really coming together and it’s showing during these padded practices. The addition of Brandin Cooks was a great grab by Dallas. He shows quickness and great route running ability and the connections that Cooks and Prescott are creating make it look like they have been teammates for years.
Michael Gallup is looking as healthy as healthy gets. He said his ACL is built back stronger and he is 100% ready to go. He returned last year midway through the season but still had to learn how to play with the mental game of just coming off an injury. Gallup said that is completely gone and he is ready to go. He is having a great camp and is showing improvements daily.
Jalen Tolbert is well beyond the player that he was last year at this time and head coach Mike McCarthy spoke on that before practice on Tuesday.
“Jalen has put a lot of extra time in in the weight room and spends a lot of extra time with the quarterbacks. His route running has gotten better but at the end of the day it all comes down to confidence.”
Even the seventh round pick Jalen Brooks is getting in on the action and is looking very comfortable with this new offense. Brooks is a new rookie that hasn’t been here for much time but we got to speak with him after practice today and he told us that he is very comfortable on the field and he is blessed to be able to learn a playbook quickly. He said he is confident in his route running.
Brooks is having an amazing camp and looks very comfortable out there with his new teammates.
Day seven of practice will resume on Wednesday.
