Cowboys Enter Training Camp Confident But Humble
A more mature team heads with the mindset for success
Dallas Morning News

San Antonio, TX. Friday, July 23, 2010. A few hours from now, Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips will sit side by side and articulate their thoughts entering the 2010 season.

A more self-assured tone will underlie this state of the Cowboys address than the one delivered 12 months ago.

This team does not have to wonder if the coach will make it through the season or the quarterback can curb his go-for-broke tendencies to manage a game. This group no longer must answer questions about its inability to succeed in December or turn the clock back 12 seasons to reflect on what it means to win a playoff game.

Cynics will note the Cowboys trudged off the field 34-3 losers to Minnesota in their last game. That disappointment is a reminder that these Cowboys have yet to arrive, not an indictment of where they are headed.

The arrow, as Jones likes to say, is pointing up. The Cowboys have been stripped of their sense of entitlement. They understand where they stand in the NFC and the approach needed for success.

The phrase "big hat, no cattle" applied to the Cowboys the last time they gathered in San Antonio. No more. This team has matured. It rejects the flashy, dysfunctional ways of its recent past and embraces the idea that it can improve from within.

The Cowboys might not become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. But as training camp gets underway, they are considered a legitimate threat.

Jones offered a preview of the theme he is likely to spin today at the end of mini-camp.

"I like the attitude and the work and participation," the owner said in June. "I really do feel we have top talent on the team. But this same talent, the majority of it, saw us fall short last year. That keeps anybody from getting too caught up in what this looks like right now.

"We've got a lot of work to do when we get to training camp. We've got to do it, got to accomplish it in a way that we come out of camp and go into the season as healthy as we can be. You've got to have all of those things before you can start talking about what kind of team we will have."

It's an opinion Phillips echoes. The coach likes what he has seen this off-season. But the preparation and the grind reaches a new level in training camp, and Phillips said, "We're looking forward to that."

The Cowboys are more comfortable in their own skin than they were at this time last year. That goes for Phillips – we're not just talking about the 30 pounds he dropped on the Nutrisystem diet – and the players.

Think back to last year's camp. Doubts persisted about the team's ability to replace receiver Terrell Owens and linebacker Greg Ellis. The trade of Anthony Henry left a void at cornerback.

The emergence of Miles Austin , Anthony Spencer and Mike Jenkins erased those concerns. Their success made it easier to turn to Doug Free at left tackle and Alan Ball at free safety to replace Flozell Adams and Ken Hamlin.

"It is healthy when you've got some talent to improve from within," Jones said. "That's almost trite to say, but it means you have some guys who can come along and do it.

"From within is the best way to go."

Yes, there is a different feel entering this season's camp.

"I think," Jones said, "everybody out there knows more about who we are and what we need to do."
 

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