It was the second day of Raiders and Cowboys joint practices today. This was the scrimmage day, which as it turned out was not all that different than the first day of joint practices.
The Raiders fans were out in force again just as they were the first day. With their chants of "Raider Nation (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)" and "Cowboys suck! Cowboys suck! Cowboys suck!" when the Cowboys took the field and several times after that. I got some video, though it was while they were conserving their energy prior to practice:
The Cowboys make a fan atmosphere at their camp, with booths set up and access much of the day, even when there is no practice happening. Even their mascot, Rowdy, made an appearance during practice.
#Cowboys mascot Rowdy is here pic.twitter.com/Dnhkxb9DEe
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) August 13, 2014
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Chimdi Chekwa was back on the field today just as Dennis Allen said he would. He then left practice early with the same injury that had him out before. It is unclear if it's a re-aggravation or just that he was not quite ready to return afterall.
They started with drills and Desmond Bryant was burning Carlos Rogers over and over. He then burnt a few other Raiders defenders such as Tarell Brown. This just in: Desmond Bryant is pretty good. Tony Romo is pretty good too. He was putting the ball right where it needed to be, whether it be over the shoulder, back shoulder, up high, or otherwise. It was a clinic.
After that it was the actual scrimmage. It was hard to see everything because again they had the Raiders offense on one field, and the defense on the other. So, one had to choose.
Again, the team sessions featured Desmond Bryant who got between Carlos Rogers and Charles Woodson in the zone to pull in a pass from Romo. Later, he caught one with Tarell Brown in coverage as well.
Jason Witten - another Pro Bowl receiver for the Cowboys -- caught one over the middle on Sio Moore. For the most part, though, Sio looked very good. He has been fired up both the past couple days with the fan contingency and he brought it to the field. In two consecutive plays, he batted down a pass over the middle and then laid a big hit on wide receiver Laron Byrd after a short catch.
Romo got off to a hot start against the Raiders defenders but as practice went on, he began to get erratic. By that point, I was on the Raiders offensive field so I can't tell how much of those struggles were a direct result of the Raiders stiffening up on defense and how much was just Romo bein' Romo.
Khalil Mack showed off his run stuffing skills, by standing up DeMarco Murray at the line on a run left.
Tyvon Branch also had a very good looking run stuff in which he shed a blocker and pushed Murray into the Cowboys' backfield. Murray has an inch and 20 pounds on Branch and yet could get no ground on Branch.
Kaluka Maiava is glad to finally be back. He roamed the middle of the field with the second team and batted down a pass upfield from Brandon Weeden.
Kory Sheets had a really nice run off a catch in the flat from Derek Carr. He got some blocking downfield, made a nice move at the line to shake a defender and took it 50 yards untouched for the score. He has that kind of ability and has shown up in flashes in camp. He will need it to show up in preseason games to make this roster.
As for Carr, he had a pretty typical practice for him. He has some good connections but also had some issues. He held the ball too long and was sacked at one point by defensive end Adawale Ojomo. On the same drive, he scrambled out of the pocket only to throw the ball wide and out of bounds along the right sideline.
On the Raiders offense, Denarius Moore looked very good. He caught a short pass and juked a defender to take a pass upfield. He also ended practice with a touchdown grab. I caught some video of that catch you can see here:
Dennis Allen also raved about Denarius' play these two days, saying "It was good to see him come out and make some plays in a competitive environment. He continues to get better."
Denarius had fallen on the depth chart behind Greg Little, who had a couple of bad drops today. Based on what we saw today and in the first preseason game, Denarius should be moving back ahead of Little on that depth chart.
As you can see in the video, Schaub had a nice completion, two incompletions and then another good pass for the score. That is about how it's gone for him. He has had success more times than not against the Cowboys shoddy secondary.
There wasn't a major brawl like on the first day, but there were plenty of scuffles to be had. BW Webb was jawing with the fans early on. He was the one who was hit by a fan with a helmet and retaliated by shoving the fan. They don't like each other.
The first scuffle nearly happened during kick off drills when Cowboys running back and special teamer, hit Raiders return man, TJ Carrie pretty hard on his return attempt and players needed to be restrained. That was a primer.
The first big fight happened when Raiders Kaluka Maiava hit receiver Devin Street hard, which he took issue with. Newly signed safety Larry Asante jumped into the Street fight and it was on. As usual, the two tugged and pushed at each other, went to the ground and the rest of the team came over and there was a big pile up before it broke up. Good times.
The next fight came from Darren McFadden who after a run - which they're told to finish regardless of if they are stopped - linebacker Cameron Lawrence kept grabbing at him and trying to take him to the ground. McFadden jerked the ball away from him and then engaged with him. McFadden bear hugged Lawrence and took him to the ground. Both teams converged and scuffled with it impossible to see what was happening in the scrum. McFadden was pulled out of it before it was over and a Cowboys player came out of it without a helmet. Moving on.
According to my colleague Chris McClain over at Silver & Black Report, Jonathan Dowling had a good day. He had a hard hit on wide receiver Chris Boyd which Dez Bryant took issue with and they got into it, nearly starting a fight. Dowling needed a good performance. He has not looked all that good in the first preseason game and has not stood out much in training camp. Jeremy Deering also had an interception of Brandon Weeden.
Once practice was over, the Raiders got on the bus in a quickness. They head back to Oakland tonight in preparation for their preseason home opener Friday. That game has reached the minimum to avoid local television blackout but there are tickets still available.
After the game, the next time they practice it will be back in Alameda as they prepare for the all-important third preseason game.
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