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Cowboys play the Texans Saturday @ 8PM. Can't wait for the start of the season. Some battles for postion going on right now:

BATTLE OF THE WEEK
Torrin Tucker vs. Jacob Rogers for starting RT -- Tucker, a second year man, looked better early, which is necessary for him compete considering the Cowboys drafted the rookie Rogers in the second round to take over at right tackle. As it stands now, he is going to have to battle to overcome Tucker for the starting spot.
"I am not discouraged about Jacob Rogers," Jones said. "But Tucker is doing real well. He knows what to do. He is very athletic. He is showing how athletic he is and he is not making mistakes."

OTHER BATTLE FRONTS
Dexter Coakley and Bradie James are battling at weak-side linebacker. Coakley is the starting but it's going to be hard keeping James off the field. He is big, athletic and feisty. He makes standout plays every day in practice. ... ReShard Lee and Aveion Cason are battling for the final running back spot. The Cowboys are certain to keep Eddie George and rookie Julius Jones. They will likely carry one more runner. Lee is the early advantage because he is younger and runs tougher. Cason is faster and has more experience but he lost favor last season because he didn't take care of the football.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
OT Flozell Adams -- Adams made his first Pro Bowl last season and is not only seemingly picking up where he left off but trying to reach unprecedented levels. Bill Parcells said Adams has the potential to be best guy in football.

"That's what I'm talking to Flo about," Parcells said. "I'm not talking to Flo about being a one-year wonder. I want him to be the best guy in football ... he can be the best guy. Or certainly in the top two or three. I want him to be that. He gets it. He knows, he knows. That's what I talk to Flozell Adams about, being the best guy in football. That's pretty high."

ROOKIE REPORT
Quarterback Drew Henson, fresh out of the New York Yankees' baseball organization, didn't take long to let everyone see what the fuss is about. On his first play in the scrimmage on Saturday, Henson hooked up with receiver Zuriel Smith for a deep touchdown strike. Henson also threw a touchdown pass to tight end Landon Trusty. Another highlight was a beautiful toss to tight end Jason Witten on a seam route, as Henson showed an ability to make all the throws. "I got to air it out a little bit," Henson said. "It was a good way to start things off. But getting back into game situations was what I needed the most. It was nice to be out there." ... RB Julius Jones is getting a rough time on a daily basis by Parcells and running backs coach Maurice Carthon. Both coaches are hard on running backs because they have high standards for the position and Jones is getting an ear full, which he needs. ... OG Stephen Peterman is chasing cars as Parcells likes to say. He is struggling with learning the offense and knowing what to do. The Cowboys remain high on him and don't be surprised if he competes with Andre Gurdoe for a starting role.

Looking Good!
 
More from Bill...

Chad Peters
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
August 11, 2004, 1:22 p.m. (PDT)


OXNARD, Calif. -- Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells sat down with the media Wednesday for his daily press conference, discussing some of his philosophies on handling preseason games and how much playing time certain players will get in Saturday's preseason game against the Houston Texans.

Last week you talked about wanting to see a lot of the young guys at quarterback, and not really giving Testaverde much playing time. (Tuesday) you said Vinny needs work. What changed?

PARCELLS: Well, the circumstances have changed. Now without Quincy being here, I know that Vinny's going to have to play so now I'm going to do what I think is necessary for him primarily. So he's going to get some work, but it's a good situation because playing three quarterbacks particularly in the first couple of games is a good thing to do anyway. Now I don't have any choice. Now I don't have to worry about a fourth one, so hopefully we can get a good look at all those guys like we did last weekend and get them some more reps and put them behind the team. I'm looking forward to that. Vinny has plenty to do. Just timing, knowing our offense, some of the reads are a little bit different than what they were, so he's got a lot to do. Just kind of getting back in game shape and knowing, hey, I'm playing here. I'm going to have to play. But I think he's looking forward to that. We'll see.

Do you ever go into a preseason game sometimes trying to protect a player because of injury?

PARCELLS: No. You can't do that. If somebody was hurt and I thought giving them some time off at the end of preseason was beneficial, well I would do that. But I don't ever (protect players). You can't do it. It's ridiculous. How do you do it? Tell me how you do it. Not let him play? I mean think about the question. How do you protect him? Do you just put him in for a little while?

Can you talk about what it is about the tight end position that you like so much?

PARCELLS: Because it's a skillful player. It's a player that has size and speed. Normally, it's an offensive weapon. I think having Ben (Coates) here is very good for these young tight ends - very good - because Ben can relate. Ben's only 35-years old. Ben retired when he was 31, so Ben's a young guy. Ben can demonstrate. He can actually show them how to do it, so I like having him here to help them. (Jason) Witten's kind of taken to Ben too pretty well, which is good.

When would you like to have center Gennaro DiNapoli start working out with the team?

PARCELLS: I haven't spoken with the doctors recently, but our initial hope was between right as we approach the third preseason game, but I don't know how that's going to go. That would be what they told me, this was a six-week . . . he had about three weeks before he came to camp and about three weeks into it. Now, whether that's the case, they'll probably do a scan, take a look at it and see where it is, and then we'll go from there. I'm certainly not going to force it. If something additional happened, it'd put his season in jeopardy. That's why we put him on (the physically-unable-to-perform list). Now, he's still on our count though.

As a competitor, is it sometimes tough to enter preseason games knowing your objective is primarily to evaluate players than to win the game?

PARCELLS: I told the players, I try to win all the games that we play. We're trying to win it, now not at the expense of foregoing something that we obviously need that's in our own best interest, but we do the best we can. Now sometimes the situation doesn't let it happen, but we're trying. Last season you talked about wanting your players to beg other teams to blitz toward the end of the season. Did you ever reach that point? PARCELLS: Well, we won a couple of games and made a couple of clutch plays on that - on the blitz. We beat Philadelphia with a play where Joey (Galloway) caught it over there in the middle and got us the field goal that eventually beat them. That was a big blitz situation there. That's the most vivid in my mind. We had a little bootleg play against the Giants that got the ball to (Dan) Campbell in the overtime that won that game. <!--- leave alone from here down ---></FONT>
 
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BB,

Dude - thanks for the info. HUGE Cowboys fan here. All the detailed camp battles and what not is excellent. I'm still trying to figure out the Coakley vs James battle. Dexter is an All-Pro. How do you lose your job? I know Bill likes BIG LB's but wow...he must be something damn special to take his job no?

I do recall that Kiper said James was a huge steal for the Cowboys on draft day a couple years back. 2nd or 3rd round I think.

I assume you are in big D?
 
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Chill 27, Bucknuts is my friend. We aren't for real, so relax! Alright!
heres my problem with you. my comment was a joke. in no way was i yelling, or flipping out, or whatever you incorrectly assumed i was doing. yet here you are again telling me to chill and relax. maybe you are the person that doesnt know whats going on. heres your 2 cents back.

$0.02
 
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