Camp observations: Ugly day for offense

August, 21, 2012
8/21/12
5:44
PM CT
video

SAN DIEGO – The final observation post of training camp from California is upon us, and the last practice was not a thing of beauty for the Cowboys offense.

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ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer weighs in on Miles Austin and Dez Bryant's injuries, the offensive line and more.

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A lot of mistakes up front and on the outside in the near two-hour session, and since I was with the offense during the workout I won’t have any defensive observations.

On to the observations:

** WR Kevin Ogletree came up with a Laurent Robinson-like touchdown in red-zone drills, getting himself free after Tony Romo scrambled to his right. Ogletree did a nice job of finding a soft spot in the Chargers defense to give Romo an angle for the throw.

** The offensive line struggled in picking up some blitzes from the Chargers. San Diego had four sacks of QB Kyle Orton and three on Romo. LT Tyron Smith gave up a sack of Romo to Kendall Reyes on fourth down after he had Reyes on the ground. Romo was forced to hold onto the ball too long. Two snaps later, Smith was beaten by Larry English for a sack.

** Orton had three touchdown passes in red-zone drills, hitting Danny Coale underneath, Raymond Radway on a back-shoulder throw and TE James Hanna at the goal line.

** Felix Jones good: He was able to break free for a nice gain on a run, using a shoulder juke to get a defender out of position. Felix Jones bad: He ran the wrong way on a screen to TE John Phillips in walkthrough, forcing the offense to repeat the play.

** RB DeMarco Murray was not in a good mood after the tiff between Cowboys TE Andrew Szczerba and Chargers LB Melvin Ingram developed. Murray and Chargers S Atari Bigby exchanged words, which may have been prompted from a run earlier in the workout. After Murray broke free from the line, Bigby came up with a more-than-expected tap to Murray, who may have lowered his helmet more than expected. Bigby didn’t let it end and attempted to bring some more power to his hit.

** Interesting to see WR Danny Coale serve as the holder for K Delbert Alvarado on field goals Tuesday. P Chris Jones had taken every snap with the kickers before Coale got involved. During the offseason, Coale did some work on the side and he said he has a little experience from his college days as a holder.

** RT Doug Free moved early on a hard count by Romo and was replaced for a snap by Pat McQuistan.

** RB Lance Dunbar took some work as a punt returner with WR Cole Beasley. With Dunbar’s speed, he might get in the kick return mix as well.
Todd Archer joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2010. He's covered the NFL since 1997 and the Cowboys since 2003. He covered the Bengals and Dolphins before arriving in Dallas. A Massachusetts native, Archer lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.

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