Sunday- Sports
SAN ANTONIO - Cowboys secondary coach Dave Campo has seen Gerald Sensabaugh's versatility before. Not just from Sensabaugh himself - Campo coached him for three seasons in Jacksonville - but another Cowboys safety, too.
The other guy just happens to be the franchise's all-time leading tackler and a fixture on its three Super Bowl teams from the 1990s.
"When I first got there (to the Jaguars) - and again, I'm not comparing - I thought he had some of the same things that (Darren) Woodson had when Woodson was here," said Campo, who initially coached 14 years in Dallas from 1989-2000.
"He has great burst and he's physical, and Woodson played on nickel for his whole career."
In no way is Campo making a direct link between Sensabaugh's overall ability and Woodson's subtle greatness on those championship teams. After all, Sensabaugh must perform well in 2009 just to earn a long-term contract next spring after signing only a one-year free-agent deal with Dallas in March.
But the Cowboys are confident the 26-year-old strong safety can restore some of the coverage flexibility Woodson brought to the position until his retirement in 2004 - the same flexibility they lacked with Roy Williams, who's now trying to rejuvenate his career in Cincinnati.
Saturday inside the Alamodome, Sensabaugh provided two examples in one-on-one drills that he's indeed an upgrade against the pass:
- On one play, tight end Martellus Bennett used a double move to get inside separation on a skinny post, but Sensabaugh quickly recovered and knocked the ball away.
- Then he stayed stride-for-stride with speedy rookie receiver Kevin Ogletree for 40 yards down the middle of the field and batted down the pass in the end zone.
One-on-one passing drills aren't even advantageous for cornerbacks, much less safeties, whose primary job is to help a corner locked into single coverage on a wide receiver.
Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips noticed. Campo, who coached Sensabaugh back to his rookie season in 2005, wasn't a bit surprised.
"If there came a situation where we had to cover a guy, Sensabaugh could go up and press one of those guys and take him out of the game," Campo said. "He actually played some nickel for us in Jacksonville inside.
"In other words, he can cover man-to-man. He's not worried too much about who he's covering."
Just as teams value three starting-quality cornerbacks against a growing number of spread formations, two rangy safeties with similar coverage strengths is also becoming a prerequisite for defenses.
For the first time in several years, the Cowboys appear to have that luxury with Sensabaugh and incumbent free safety Ken Hamlin, a Pro Bowl selection in 2007, though both also must play the run more consistently.
Williams' coverage deficiencies were viewed publicly as defensive liabilities in recent years, and teams did try to isolate him on agile tight ends. The Cowboys countered schematically, and in some cases, simply took Williams off the field in passing situations.
With Sensabaugh, those issues might be solved.
"Gerald can play man-to-man, which is why we put him at strong safety," head coach Wade Phillips said. "He's a good tackler and aggressive guy, as is Hamlin. If you put him at strong safety you can put him man-to-man on the tight end."
Sensabaugh already has drifted outside to cover Jason Witten or Bennett in practice, joking that the deceptively quick second-year tight end "is pushing off sometimes."
Campo said the Jaguars also tried Sensabaugh at cornerback early in his rookie season. Even at safety, he was comfortable chasing receivers like Hines Ward in the slot.
Cowboys' second-year cornerback Orlando Scandrick did an excellent job on slot receivers as a rookie and probably will handle the position in nickel situations even if he wins a starting job. Even so, Sensabaugh provides yet another proven option along with Terence Newman.
"Now, he's not going to make a living covering the slot," Campo cautioned, "but he's good enough to cover man-to-man in a lot of situations."
Given Sensabaugh's age and experience, a strong season could result into a sizable extension from the Cowboys or another team. His situation is very similar to Hamlin's in 2007, when Hamlin parlayed a one-year deal into a six-year, $39 million contract.
Now reunited with his old position coach and a crafty defensive mind in Phillips, Sensabaugh will have every opportunity to cash in.
"He's familiar with what I can do and he has a lot of confidence in what I can do," Sensabaugh said. "They're letting me play a few receivers a little bit right now and I felt I had some good success there.
"It's good having two guys in (Campo) and (ex-Jaguars, current Cowboys special teams coach) Joe DeCamillis that know what you can do."
Rob Phillips -dallascowboys.com
SAN ANTONIO - Much has been made this summer of all the changes the Cowboys offense has made, all under one theme - Tony Romo-friendly.
Cutting Terrell Owens, running the ball more, using more sets with two tight ends. All of it was designed to make Romo's job easier and promote offensive balance.
But that's not the Romo-friendliest thing out there, the quarterback said Sunday after practice inside the Alamodome.
"What it really comes down to is executing," he explained. "If a guy can still beat a guy when he's one-on-one and can you find the guy who's one-on-one and can the line hold up long enough so you can get it to the guy. And it's still execution."
Get that middle part? It doesn't matter. What does matter is the part at the beginning and end - execution. All of the changes that have been made mean nothing without execution, which Romo said the offense did rather well today.
That doesn't mean Romo isn't excited by the changes the team has made, though. He likes the addition of more two-tight end sets, and he's all for running back depth. Sometimes the two combine to really give defenses fits.
"A lot of the time when you have three receivers and a tight end you can get a dime, nickel package and try to do different things to offset," Romo said. "It's more a pass-type formation. But when you have two tight ends, you can run the ball as much as you can without having a fullback in the game. So you have to be conscious of your play calling defensively. You can't just send them anywhere."
A big part of executing better is being able to trust two of last year's top draft picks - running back Felix Jones and tight end Martellus Bennett - with more responsibility than they could handle as rookies.
"When you're young, it's hard enough just to get out there," Romo said. "Anything out of the ordinary sometimes makes you play a little slower. As you get older and you start gaining a trust factor with everybody it allows you to push the envelope sometimes."
Which is exactly what Romo hopes the offense can do this year.
Zach Buchanan -dallascowboys.com
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