By Jeff Bugher
8/8/2024
LARAMIE, Wyo. (Aug. 8, 2024) –Sawvel spoke to the media earlier this week to address the progress his team has made. He opened by acknowledging the transition to full pads and the challenges it brought: You got all these... rules of what you can and can't do, so... We've had two practices without pads and three practices, half pads, and today is the first day of full pads." He also spoke about the team's execution during the previous day's practice, noting that it was "really good.”
The same couldn’t be said about the start of Tuesday's practice, which wasn't at the expectation level of the first-year head coach. Sawvel stated that the team was "kind of stuck in the mud for a little bit."
“I about had to reset the practice clock to period one. That was a sincere thought.”
“Today, I called everybody up, ripped their ***, and we went back to it.”
Obviously, Sawvel’s statements to the team were clear as water and not clear as mud…or stuck in the mud for that matter.
Despite the slow start, Sawvel stated that the team turned things around toward the end of practice: "We did some things better toward the end, so it was good that way. But, you know, there's an expectation level that we need to practice [to] all the time, and... we were a little short of that for a little while today." Sawvel spoke about the high standard in every practice, even acknowledging the reality that "you're going to have days like that."
A reporter asked Sawvel what was lacking during Tuesday’s practice. He further elaborated on what he saw: "I think the whole list… we got a punt blocked because we didn't count to a certain number... We had a couple of things procedurally, and I just didn't see us finish some plays the way they needed to be finished." He compared the team's performance to a "C minus paper" when his expectation was "a B plus and an A."
Sawvel continued on the topic of continuous improvement, even if it comes 10 yards at a time. He summarized the day's practice by saying, "Some days you're going to shove things forward 100 yards. Some days, you're going to shove it forward 10 yards. And I don't know how far we shoved it forward today, but it went forward."
The Cowboys will continue their preseason grind, with Sawvel planning to put the starters through a NFL style rigorous test in Saturday’s upcoming scrimmage at War Memorial (closed to the public).
"Our first group's going to go probably 35 plays this week... I want to ride them a little bit in this first scrimmage."
Sawvel's frustration was still evident as he spoke about the good with the bad:
“I'm still in the glass half-empty mode right now. So there's probably enough stuff that stood out that would be for the bad,” Sawvel stated.
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