FRISCO, Texas – That's a wrap.
It passed in the blink of an eye, but the Cowboys' offseason program has drawn to a close. Rookies will remain at The Star for workouts for the next week or so, but veterans are off and offseason practices are over.
While we regroup for training camp, here's a quick notebook from the final day of this year's minicamp. After two days of struggles, we saw a better effort on Thursday from the Cowboys' offense.
Here are my notes from the practice field:
- Tremendous throw by Dak Prescott to find Allen Hurns with the back shoulder fade. Prescott read Byron Jones playing coverage underneath and put the ball in a perfect spot for Hurns to grab – high and to the outside. Jones didn't have a chance on the play due to how well the pass was thrown.
- Anthony Brown got called for defensive holding on Lance Lenoir, who still managed to get away from him. Nice job by Lenoir of extending his hands to catch the ball over his head. He showed body control as well to get his feet down in bounds as he was falling backwards.
- Noah Brown worked inside of Jourdan Lewis in zone coverage. Austin Larkin was playing as a drop end to that side due to a blitz by the linebackers. If Larkin had dropped square instead of turning inside, he would have had a chance to make the play on Brown to contest the ball. In Larkin's defense, I am not really sure how many times he was asked to drop in coverage while at Purdue.
- It was a good day for Rico Gathers catching the ball. Gathers hasn't had many opportunities, but he took advantage of the ones he got on Thursday. Gathers had a snap where he worked inside on Chris Covington where he was able to use his power to push off. Covington had trouble dealing with that power and there was some separation on the play. Mike White hit him right in the hands for the completion.
- Smart blitz pickup by Ezekiel Elliott to allow Prescott the opportunity to hit Geoff Swaim on the crossing route. Elliott slid across the pocket, staying out of Prescott's way while picking up the blitzing Damien Wilson.
- It was crazy to watch Chidobe Awuzie stay with Tavon Austin in coverage on the goal line. Austin must have darted five different directions trying to shake Awuzie, but he couldn't do it. The overall coverage was so good that Prescott was forced to pull the ball down and try to score on his own.
- Too easy of a score from Dak Prescott to Geoff Swaim in the flat. I don't know what Justin March-Lillard and Xavier Woods' responsibilities were in the coverage, but it appeared that one of them should have been on Swaim -- who had no issues getting into the end zone.
- I believe Jeff Heath is taking over the role of the safety that's handling tight ends in the passing game. It was a role that Byron Jones had the last couple of years. Heath did a nice job of staying with Blake Jarwin in the red zone. Prescott couldn't fit the ball in to him due to the coverage.
- Michael Gallup continues to find ways to separate in coverage. This time he took Jourdan Lewis across the field and had a good three yards on him, but Cooper Rush was too high and wide with the ball. It's a shame that he missed because it would have been a big gain.
- Kyle Querio took the perfect angle around Dalton Schultz in order to knock the ball away on the goal line. Instead of trying to play through him, Querio went over Schultz's left shoulder and was able to knock the ball down with his left hand. Querio made several plays in the red zone where his coverage was spot on -- which is impressive for a rookie defender.
