AUSTIN - The Oakland Raiders have come to Austin to practice against
Dallas the last four years, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says it may be
his team's turn to head out to the West Coast and return the favor.
Jones said Thursday that his team may scrimmage the Oakland Raiders in Portland,
Ore., next year.
Jones said it's something he and Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis have talked
about in association with Nike, which is a sponsor of Texas Stadium.
"It would be a Nike celebration," Jones said. "We would like
to do that out at Portland. We are trying to work it out, possibly next
year."
The Dallas defense is so depleted by injury that wide receiver Kendricke
Bullard has been switched over to defensive back.
Bullard ran several turns at cornerback on Thursday, attempting to stay
with receivers Kevin Williams and Stepfret Williams.
Dallas coach Barry Switzer said Bullard has good speed and "is willing
to hit people and take people on. Not many receivers are willing to do that."
Bullard said he enjoyed hitting people while on special teams in the past.
"I'm just trying to learn the coverages and get out there and tackle,"
he said. Scrapping scrimmages
Dallas owner Jerry Jones has been taking heat for having the Cowboys participate
in so many practices and scrimmages against other teams because the contact
might be too demanding on a squad lacking depth.
Dallas will scrimmage Houston twice during the preaseason, and the Cowboys
practiced for three days against Oakland this week, in addition to the team's
five preseason games.
But Jones said working out against other teams is better for a team suffering
from injuries, adding that he might eliminate the Cowboys' annual inter-squad
scrimmage instead.
"We might look at not having a game like the Blue-White scrimmage,"
Jones said, "because when you have an injury in a game like that, 100
percent of the time it's one of your players. When you scrimmage another
team, it's only a 50 percent chance the injury will be to one of your players."
With an injury to starting middle linebacker Fred Strickland depleting
depth, rookie draft pick Randall Godfrey has been working out at middle
linebacker.
The Cowboys selected Godfrey from Georgia in the second round of April's
draft and immediately said he would begin his career trying to master the
strongside linebacker position.
But with Strickland suffering from a strained right calf, and the anticipated
return at some point in the season of top backup Godfrey Myles, Godfrey
made a switch.
"Mike's (middle linebacker) easier to play than Sam (strong-side linebacker),"
Switzer said. "Right now, he looks like he's a Mike."
In what looked more like a cattle call than a sprint among Cowboys' offensive
linemen, 310-pound tackle Mark Tuinei blurted out "Michael Johnson"
as he trotted toward the end of the run.
Johnson became the first sprinter to win Olympic gold in the 200 and 400
meters by setting a world record in the 200 Thursday night.
Despite Tuinei's optimism, he was beaten out in the sprint by 326-pound
guard Larry Allen.