The crowd rustled near the fence next to the practice field. Standing six deep, most fans had to crane their necks to see what was about to happen.
Adam Jones knew. Terrell Owens knew, planting his right lead foot into the ground before looking to the quarterback. Tony Romo knew. It wasn't a simple one-on-one drill during training camp.
At the snap, Owens and Jones had little separation, but Owens subtly moved toward the sideline before breaking back to open up space. Romo's pass settled nicely into Owens' hands for what would have been a touchdown.
"It's football," Jones said. "You're not going to win every play, but you've got to come back the next play and forget about it, and that's what I do."
Through the first four practices of training camp, Jones is attempting to seek out Owens or Patrick Crayton during one-on-one drills. "I'm here to compete. I'm not here to prove anything. I'm here to compete, said Jones."
Owens likes the personal matchups, too. "Every day is going to be different depending on the feelings of each individual," Owens said. "Sometimes, he'll feel a little better than me, and the majority of days, I'll feel better than him. It's all in competition. That's part of it for the both of us to get each other better."
During his coaching career Wade Phillips has seen players match up against lesser competitors to make themselves look better, but he liked the intrasquad competition.
"The reason they're good is they're competitors," Phillips said. "And so if they think someone is the best or someone is good, they're going to try to meet the challenge rather than dodge the challenge."
