Cowboys Forum News

San Antonio, Texas.. The home of the Alamo, the Riverwalk, Sea World, and of course.. The Dallas Cowboys.. Or at least during training camp..

In 2 weeks, the Cowboys will be opening camp with a number of questions swirling on a possible championship soaked team. What better motivation than to win a superbowl in your own house? That would be monumental. A feet never done before. A stellar accomplishment that would echo across........ Okay.. Enough, Training Camp hasn't even started yet..

Lets take a quick look at the quick battles that I will be looking at when I will be live blogging from the dome..

1.) Free Safety. Is Alan Ball the true answer to replace Ken Hamlin? Well, considering Ken Hamlin was rather horrid last year, those standards are set low, however, we don't want low standards, we want the best possible answer. Alan has definitely improved since he was a thin as a rail pole 7th Rounder out of Illinois, but lets be realistic here, the man has only 31 tackles, 4 Pass Deflections, and 0 interceptions under his belt. Not exactly a lock in the position if you ask me. Especially with guys like Michael Hamlin, who some say may have a better upside to him. This will probably be my 2nd favorite camp battle, but most important to defense..

2.) Offensive Line. We all watched it. Poor ole Tony Romo running for his life in that Minnesota debacle last year.. Our Offensive line was the most pathetic thing since.. since.. since.. Well, the year prior.. What was so phenomenal is that this group would be dominant one week, then be poor the next. Commentators never knew exactly where to place this group.. Some would say it was the best Oline in football, but the best never lets their guard down, especially in the playoffs, they play stronger, in fact.. So here we are.. Doug Free is set as our NEW starting Left Tackle. Now, I know what your saying.. Doug was demolished when Flozell Adams left the game against Minnesota and that is why it was so bad, and why would we start the guy who was so horrible on that dreadful day?

Because this is the reason why we drafted him. Just because he stunk it up in one early game, does not mean that he stinks! In fact, when playing Right Tackle year before last he was pretty darn good.. The problem is that Flozell was so darn good... When he wanted to be, but he was so darn good at being bad when he wanted to be.. I do not see another person taking Free's spot, but his best competition is probably Alex Barron, but lets not look past Robert Brewster either.. Both will be formidable foes in camp and I am very excited to watch these guys..

3.) Wide Receiver. Always the most excitement in camp is the receivers. No doubt, this is the crowds favorite to watch.. There is no doubt in my mind that Miles Austin is #1 and Roy Williams is #2.. So I won't focus much on either of these 2.. But what is interesting is the rest of the order.. Patrick Crayton has always been impressive and his hands are always made of super glue, but he has always lacked that big play ability (although he has made those types of plays before) This will be the biggest WR battle.. Dez Bryant vs. Patrick Crayton.. In my mind, Dez has to prove in camp that he is that playmaker to overtake Crayton's spot. Some may disagree, and I have no doubt in my mind that he WILL prove that, but proof is in the pudding and right now, Crayton is #3. Minicamps aside.. The other battles will be for the 5 and 6 receivers.. Cowboys WILL take 6 receivers again, there is too much talent here not too. Especially now that they don't have to worry about carrying 2 kickers.. Sam Hurd, the camp spectacular, steals the show making acrobatic catches, until the season begins. Granted, his chances are much more limited during the season, but he will be in competition with Kevin Ogletree (Who is probably the next stud waiting to happen), Manuel Johnson, and dare I say it.. Jesse Holley (the 4th and Inches star).. The rest (Ryan, Hudgins, and Tucker) unless some crazy spectacular camp show comes along will be fighting for Practice Squad spots..

Finally..

4.) Kicker. At this point its David Buehler against himself. Although there will be no direct competition (from what it seems like now), the slightest mishap will bring in another year of the 2 kicker system. We will never release Buehler as his leg on kickoffs is such a weapon, but the Cowboys want to see him be MORE than just kickoffs, they want a STUD that becomes the best kicker in football.. He has the capability, he just needs the direction, the Cowboys will give him ever inch to succeed, but also ever inch of rope to hang himself as well.. This will be fun to watch as well..

Now, there are other smaller battles that will be going along.. But most will be for 2nd string and below, but we will not forget them at camp as well.. What is always fun is there is usually 4-5 guys every year that make the camp shine, make us talk about them and see potential in guys we never thought it existed in. Camp stories are always the most intriguing.. Considering that camp will be in 2 places this year (San Antonio and Oxnard), this could get rather interesting..



Joshskeety will be live blogging from camp from July 24th- July 31st