| |
Dallas: Pass intended for Mr. Nobody
Posted: Wednesday August 11, 1999 04:54 PM
This is the ninth in a series of postcards Sports Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL training-camp tour. Aug. 9, 1999 TEAM: Dallas Cowboys SITE: Fawcett Stadium, Canton, Ohio, where the Cowboys played in the annual Hall of Fame Game Monday night against the Browns in Cleveland's return to the NFL. PLAYER I SAW WHOM I REALLY LIKED: I'm stunned to say it, but I thought DE Alonzo Spellman , in a battle to make the Cowboys roster and beef up their defensive line, looked aggressive and impactful in his several series of play. Although he was playing against an expansion team's second unit, he gets points from me for a high motor and good inside pass-rush moves. "He's rusty and not in very good shape," said coach Chan Gailey . "But you can tell he has a lot of potential. Whether or not he can still do it, that's up to him." THE FOOD: By hanging out on the field before the game and chatting up league types and Browns people, I missed the pregame meal. But I did get the Hall of Fame's boxed lunch, which contained a turkey sandwich on a roll (ample turkey, little taste), some greasy Lays' potato chips, two excellent oatmeal cookies and a Washington McIntosh, which was an excellent apple for this time of year. Washed it all down with something called Bubble-Up, a 7-Up clone. Your average press box fare was given out cheerfully by the excellent crew of the Hall of Fame's historian/keeper-of-the-flame Joe Horrigan , who, by the way, deserves kudos from everyone in the press corps for his tireless work all though the Hall's biggest weekend of the year.
Dear NFL Junkie: I think we're all getting to know a little bit too much about Browns lore, if you ask me. Anyway, I sort of felt sorry for Gailey here in Canton. After the Cowboys legitimately addressed their wide receiver problems in the offseason -- trading a third-round pick (too high, in my opinion) to the Seahawks for a good third receiver with speed, James McKnight , and signing Rocket Ismail as a free agent -- there was Troy Aikman and Jason Garrett , throwing to Michael Irvin and a bunch of Joe Schmoes . McKnight is out for the year after tearing his ACL last week, and Ismail hurt his shoulder and could be iffy for a few weeks. I saw Gailey outside the team buses just after midnight. "Gollee," he said, sounding a bit Gomer Pyle-ish. "We were just getting to the point where McKnight was fitting into the offense and doing things to help us. That's a shame. But did you see our guys tonight? Martay Jenkins , Wane McGarity , Jeff Ogden ... That's what training camp is all about. They came through. They showed us something." Eight catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns between them. McGarity, a fourth-round draft choice out of the University of Texas, looked like he belonged in the big leagues. But unless Aikman and one or two of these guys get on the same page right quick, the Cowboys will be in the same trouble they've been in for years at the receiver slot, since Alvin Harper unwisely went to seek his fortune and found himself in a succession of losing relationships -- with coaches and quarterbacks. That McKnight injury could really cripple this team. More postcards: Cleveland | Detroit | Tampa Bay | Minnesota | Green Bay | Chicago | New Orleans | Kansas City
Check back soon for more Postcards from Camp. To send a question to
Peter King's King's NFL Mailbag, click
here.
| |||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||
