Sept. 2 by placing him on PUP for the start of the season if he still has not come around.
As for Hamlin, there are talks going on, but you get the feeling talks on a long-term deal are going nowhere, as Jerry Jones continues to point out, Hamlin will play. Why wouldn't he for $4.396 million? And as head coach Wade Phillips said, trying to minimize Hamlin's absence, he's evidently been checking in with defensive coordinator Brian Stewart, getting all the updates on defenses being installed and whatnot.
Seems as though we've been over all this for four weeks of OTA's. But if not for this what else would everyone write, talk and blog about?
Maybe the pressure on the Cowboys to win this year? Now there is a novel concept, especially for a team still chasing its first playoff victory since 1996 but doing so in the toughest division in the NFC, and maybe the NFL. So you think this is the greatest team in Cowboys history, since no other has ever put together back-to-back 13-3 seasons, and in the 14-game-season era of the NFL, the best the Cowboys ever did in back-to-back seasons was 12-2 in 1968 then 11-2-1 in 1969, yet didn't win a playoff game in either season?
Maybe why Tony Romo can't finish a season strong? But then, we've been over how he went 2-1 in December games he finished this year during the regular season and how the defense was scorched for 35.5 points down the 1-3 December stretch in 2006 - uh, his first taste of starting in the NFL (10 games).
Maybe it would be time to dredge up the Cowboys hanging with this same, evidently sorry receiving corps if Glenn is unable to or decides not to play? Same one for the past month we've been talking about that helped Romo to the most prolific single passing season in club history.
You know, and I know, mini-camp is no different than the OTA's, but while Phillips kept talking about Sam Hurd and Miles Austin improving, and how Isaiah Stanback sparkles at times during these off-season workouts, these guys actually did in the afternoon practice. Hurd really is attacking the ball, making several clutch catches during the team portion of Tuesday's second workout. And Stanback has uncommon crossing speed on routes, catching the ball in stride and scooting even if at times he'll get lost on a deep route.
He could have included Tony Curtis in that improved receiving group, and during a no-huddle drill did see rookie Martellus Bennett making a diving touchdown catch from inside the 10. Or maybe how the previously mentioned improved play of Tank Johnson at nose tackle some three weeks ago has now encouraged the coaching staff to give starting nose Jay Ratliff some snaps back at defensive end just to make him as versatile as possible?
But if possible, please, how about a moratorium on Anthony Henry moving to safety? How many times does Phillips have to insist Henry, the guy who led the club with six picks last year, is the team's starting cornerback before anyone believes him? Yeah, yeah, he's moving inside on dime packages when teams employ a Jason Witten-type tight end inside three wide receivers. But let's first see how well he plays there when the pads come on and some team decides instead to pull its 340-pound tackle over the middle on a running play.
Same with the constant line of questioning about Roy Williams? Imagine this, but even I'm growing tired of that. Phillips is going to back his guy, Roy won't answer questions about it unless he's at some charity event or paid promotion, and those defensive responses are starting to sound stale, too.
Oh, and I'm guessing there will be no more questions about if the Cowboys are interested in signing Chris Henry. Right? Or second guessing if the Cowboys should have paid those big bucks to Javon Walker. Right?
Come on, time to turn the page.
Maybe should have written an entire column about how Jerry Jones, walking out to Tuesday's second practice with a few cohorts, bent down on the track on his way to the indoor facility to pick up an empty Gatorade bottle and deposited it in the trash.
Now to me, that's some breaking news.
