Dallas Cowboys hope that coming home will mean a better brand of football

Dallas Cowboys hope that coming home will mean a better brand of football
By MAC ENGEL
tengel@star-telegram.com

The Dallas Cowboys were gone for 25 days, stayed in three different hotels, flew on planes, rode on a train as well as in automobiles, played two teams and had just two or three days off during that time.

So by the time they took the field against the Denver Broncos on Saturday night, they knew a charter plane was waiting to fly them home immediately after the game.

"I feel like I’ve been on tour with a rock band. I feel like I’ve been on tour with a famous singer," Cowboys defensive tackle Tank Johnson said. "I’m ready to get home, get back to my bed and kinda get into a routine of the season. This hasn’t been easy. Playing, traveling, unnecessary traveling, but this is how it goes."

Technically, training camp is not over, but for all practical purposes it is. Two-a-days are over. The cool climates of southern California and Denver will likely be replaced by the heat and humidity of North Texas. The crowds to watch practices — other than Wednesday night at Texas Stadium — will have to wait for the games.

Beginning with their first practice Tuesday at Valley Ranch, the Cowboys will ease into the normal weekly NFL routine. And when the Cowboys return to work, they will focus on the one area that continues to bug them.

"Mistakes and penalties," Cowboys defensive lineman Jay Ratliff said after the Cowboys’ 23-13 loss in Denver. "We are beating ourselves. The main thing is to not hurt yourself. I don’t think it’s a lack of concentration, but we need to be aware of what we’re doing. We need to eliminate mental errors and stupid penalties."

For the second time in as many preseason games, the Cowboys were a penalty machine. The Cowboys have committed 16 penalties for 174 yards in those preseason games.

"The execution mentally was really good; it was just penalties — on both sides of the ball," Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said after the Denver game.

The amount of penalties left some Cowboys scratching their heads.

"I think [lead official] Mr. [Ed] Hochuli likes to get himself on TV a little bit. I know he likes to work out, but c’mon, Mr. Hochuli," Crayton said. "We don’t gotta see that much of you."

The penalties continue a trend that the Cowboys can’t seem to shake. Last season, they ranked eighth in the NFL in most penalty yards with 815. But most of the time they were good enough to overcome the mistakes.

In last season’s NFC divisional playoff loss they weren’t. The Cowboys were penalized 11 times for 84 yards against the New York Giants. One penalty in particular — an offsides call on DeMarcus Ware that the NFL later admitted was incorrect — helped the Giants score the game’s first touchdown.

"No team is good enough in this league to overcome penalties over and over again," Romo said. "We need to fix that first. We are not going to win many ball games if we don’t win the penalty battle."

The good news for the Cowboy is that this is just the preseason, and trends that are established in these games often don’t translate to the regular season.

"Guys have to hone in, me included," Johnson said. "We can’t give away yards. There is enough talent in this league they’re going to get yards. We just can’t give them away. Once guys understand that we’ll be better than we are today."

Now that they are sleeping in their own beds for the first time since July 23, that process may be easier.




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