IRVING, Texas - While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seemed to suggest there is a small possibility of welcoming suspended cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones back to the team if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should reinstate him this year, head coach Wade Phillips said he's operating under the assumption he's not returning to the team.
"It's like losing a player to injury. He's gone so we have to move forward," Phillips said after Wednesday's practice.
And when pressed on the issue, Phillips said, "We don't have him, that's where we are, so I can't count on him . . . I mean he's gone, that's what it looks like to me. I'm not saying what's going to happen in the future, because I don't know what's going to happen in the future or what is or isn't going to be done there, but I can't go there. I've got to coach the players I have."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell indefinitely suspended the troubled cornerback on Tuesday, saying he will reevaluate his status after the Cowboys play four games, meaning some time after Nov. 16. The commissioner seemed most upset with Jones for being involved in a liquor-related incident, which he pointed out was a violation of his earlier probation in Georgia.
But authorities in Fayette County (Ga.) said probation officers had decided not to pursue revocation proceedings because Jones was not arrested for the Oct. 7 incident at The Joule.
Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens was in lock step with his head coach, regretting what happened to Jones, but at the same time realizing there is a season to play and that this team can't dwell on his situation.
"You can't dwell on people who aren't here," said Owens, while still saying how much he cares for his teammate. "We have to go forward."
So with Pacman gone, the Cowboys will move forward, getting first-round draft choice Mike Jenkins ready to start and fellow rookie Orlando Scandrick prepared to continue heading into the slot on the sub-packages without Terence Newman available following his sports hernia surgery last Friday.
"[Jones] is a good person," Scandrick said of his teammate of six games. "When I was fresh, my first training camp, I sat by him everyday in individual meetings when we were out at Oxnard. He just critiqued me, he was hard on me. He basically gave me all the knowledge that he has."
Today in practice, Scandrick not only took reps in the slot, replacing Newman on those sub-packages, but he also took reps playing outside at cornerback.
"I don't know how much significance that means to me, Pacman not playing, besides I have to be a little more prepared just in case, Mike's going to start us off this game," Scandrick said.
Also taking reps at cornerback was Courtney Brown, the former cornerback the Cowboys moved to safety last year during training camp. Brown had been coming in the past couple of weeks on the team's sub-packages at safety, first to replace Pat Watkins when he was starting for Roy Williams and then Keith Davis when he ended up starting the past two games.
"We're all ready to play," Brown said. "Now that the guys have gone down to injuries and the suspension to Pacman, a lot of guys that weren't going to play are going to have to play, step up and actually show it instead of saying they're ready to play."
But for most, the situation isn't a distraction at all.
"The Pacman thing doesn't affect me directly," Watkins said. "I've just got to think about how I'm going to get back on the field and play - I've got my own issues."
Davis harbored no ill-feelings toward Jones, who had started the opener and the past two games for Newman.
"I'm not disappointed at all," Davis said. "I thought Adam, when he was here and he played, he played hard for us and he gave it everything that he had. It's unfortunate the situation that he's in right now. I wish him the best."
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