“Just got to see day-to-day and we don’t think it’s a serious injury,” coach Jason Garrett said of Austin. “We didn’t think it was smart to have him go out and practice [Thursday]. We’ll see how he responds on treatment [Thursday afternoon] and make a judgement on tomorrow’s practice.” — Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas

Even if healthy, Austin wasn’t going to play much against the Chargers anyway, but this does provide some other guys with an opportunity to get reps with the first team. If Miles doesn’t play, expect Kevin Ogletree to start in his place and Dwayne Harris will probably see some time too. Typically, preseason is meaningless, but for Ogletree and Harris, this game takes on added significance. One of them is just a Dez or Miles injury away from being a starter. Hopefully they come to play on Sunday.

Calvin Watkins ESPNDallas.com

Jason Garrett is doing something a bit unorthodox, but something that I really like. He has made the equipment staff remove the stars off all the rookies in training camps helmets.

“The star is very important to us,” Garrett said after Monday’s walkthrough practice. “The star is an international symbol. It’s the Dallas football Cowboys. And the players hear me say that a lot. The star means something.” — Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas

Even Tyron Smith the Cowboys first round pick is wearing a plain helmet!

Some rookies such as Rookie cornerback Josh Thomas saw this as motivation. This is not the first time a Dallas Cowboys coach has done this in 2003 Bill Parcells did the same thing, Parcells even went as far as to make the first round picks bring him water during practice.

I myself love this move by Jason Garrett makes the rookies earn their spots and hold them accountable. The Star is a symbol of the Cowboys and I feel that making them earn this will make them work harder. Also like that Garrett is showing that this is his team!

I know I’ve said this about a thousand times over the last week, but, just to reiterate, this lock-out is brutal. However, this morning, I’ve been able to scrounge up enough Cowboys’ news to do a morning round-up, or a links dump, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Granted, I’m not sure some this should be classified as news, but it is, at the very least, Cowboys related.

Deion gets all high and mighty on Dez.

He looks good up there on that high road, doesn’t he? I’m not sure what Deion is trying to do here. What’s the point? From all accounts (except for Deion’s obviously), Dez has showed more maturity over the last couple of months. And has Watkins pointed out, many of Bryant’s “yes men” are people that Deion set him up with in the first place. Lay off Dez, Deion. You sound like a junior high girl.

Gerald Sensabaugh says that last year’s circus-like training camp contributed to the team’s poor start. Hopefully Jerry learned a lesson from it. Picking up and moving camp across the country seemed like a bad idea from the get go. (more…)