OXNARD, Calif. -- A successful season is not determined in one training camp practice, but there could not have been a better start for cornerback Morris Claiborne on Monday when the Dallas Cowboys put the pads on for the first time.
Claiborne had at least four pass deflections during the course of the two-hour workout. He opened up the one-on-one period at left cornerback and broke up a Tony Romo slant to Terrance Williams. He moved over to right cornerback and was able to contend with Dez Bryant on a deep ball and then beat him to a spot on a quick pass to the inside. On the third play of team drills, he broke up a Romo pass to Devin Street.
On his final pass deflection he tipped a pass to Chris Brown from Dak Prescott, laying out and going to the ground. He was slow to get up but he was only cramping. He took a couple of snaps off the rest of practice.
On to the observations:
Maligned before the first day of camp, the first-team defense got the better of the first-team offense in the run drills. Running back Ezekiel Elliott was unable to pop a long gain. The defensive line did a nice job of clogging up the holes. Linebacker Sean Lee was able to track down Elliott from behind on a run to the right behind the line of scrimmage. Linebacker Kyle Wilber put a good hit on the rookie as well, taking him to the ground. Elliott’s best run came wide to the right in which he beat cornerback Deji Olatoye to the edge.
Romo completed 9 of 14 passes in team and 7-on-7 drills in his camp debut. He was intercepted once when rookie cornerback Anthony Brown came up with a low throw intended for Cole Beasley. In 7-on-7 work he found receiver Brice Butler with a deep ball on Jeremiah McKinnon.
Cornerback Orlando Scandrick, returning from a knee injury that kept him out all of last season, did not take part in one-on-one or team drills in the first full practice. He did work in 7-on-7. During portions of practice Scandrick did some resistance training off to the side. With Scandrick out, Brown worked as the first-team nickel corner.
The biggest hit of the day belonged to safety J.J. Wilcox. Unfortunately it came at the expense of cornerback Josh Thomas on a Kellen Moore throw to Street.
Jameill Showers took the first two third-team reps at quarterback but then Prescott took the first snaps the rest of the way with the backups to the backups.
In one-on-one pass rush drills, offensive guard Ronald Leary manhandled defensive tackle Rodney Coe, throwing the undrafted rookie to the ground.
In the compete period coach Jason Garrett likes so much, Elliott gave the offense the win with a catch on linebacker Anthony Hitchens in one-on-one work. In the pass-rush portion later, defensive tackle Terrell McClain showed some power vs. left guard La'el Collins but Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick were able to beat DeMarcus Lawrence and Cedric Thornton. Frederick was able to swipe an off-balance Thornton to the ground.
Dan Bailey does what Dan Bailey does. He made all six of his kicks ( 33, 37, 40, 43, 46 and 49 yards). The 40 yarder was lower than his other kicks but was still true.
