AUSTIN (KRT) - Less than two weeks into training camp, the Dallas Cowboys
are a battered football team ravaged by injuries. Every practice, it seems,
another injured player is carted from the field.
There is no apparent relief in sight.
The Cowboys will have two practices against Oakland on Wednesday. And on
Monday, Dallas begins a stretch of three games in seven days.
Dallas plays Kansas City in Monterrey, Mexico, on Monday, and scrimmages
Houston in El Paso on Thursday before playing New England on Aug. 12.
It is a brutal schedule for a team that has seven starters who have yet
to practice in training camp. That does not include role players like defensive
tackle Tony Casillas, who has yet to practice in training camp, or Deion
Sanders, who has missed valuable practice time at receiver with a strained
hamstring.
The Cowboys dressed only 21 players for Tuesday morning's practice and that
included defensive backs Charles Frank and Cecil Doggette, who participated
in their first practice.
" 'We're locked into this," Dallas Coach Barry Switzer said of
workouts with the Raiders. "As long as they're in camp, we need to
try to work with them. We'll have some more physical practices this week,
but next week we'll be in one-a-day practices. We've got to cut back beating
on ourselves."
The Cowboys tried to make some adjustments in their Tuesday afternoon practice
by cutting practice time by about 20 minutes and 25 snaps.
"We had to cut plays," said defensive line coach Craig Boller.
"There was no way we could go through a regular practice with the injuries
we have. We just tried to do as much quality work as we could and forget
about quantity."
Safety Darren Woodson said the Cowboys should consider reducing the physical
drills and concentrate on the technical drills like the various passing
drills and individual work.
"We're all beat up and hurt right now," Woodson said.
Switzer said if the Cowboys don't make adjustments in their practice schedule,
they could be a weary team before the season begins. Dallas already has
played one pre-season game and two scrimmages.
The Cowboys have one practice scheduled for Thursday and Switzer said he
will likely have only one practice on Friday.
The pre-season is a time for rookies and young players to make an impression
on coaches. Veterans generally practice just long enough to stay sharp,
while maintaining their health.
Veterans typically don't participate in nearly every snap as safeties Woodson
and Brock Marion have done the past two days. Defensive tackles Leon Lett
and Chad Hennings have also had an abundance of practice time in the past
two days.
Playing so many snaps leads to fatigue, making players more susceptible
to injury. The Cowboys, robbed of their depth by injuries, free agency and
suspensions over the past three seasons, can't afford any more injuries.
They are already down to five healthy defensive linemen, including Hennings
and Lett.
"We are the thinnest we've ever been in camp in the defensive line.
We're in trouble," Switzer said.
"We can't have Chad Hennings and Leon Lett taking all of these snaps,
because it just increases their chance of having an injury and we can't
afford that."
(c) 1996, Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information
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