OXNARD, Calif. _ In his first meeting with the media since Sunday's Blue-White scrimmage, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was asked to evaluate his team's performance.
A reluctant Garrett began evaluating players who stood out and said it was pretty even offensively and defensively before giving an ominous overall assessment of the Cowboys less than a week before Saturday's preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers.
"We're way far off as a team, we're not even close," Garrett said. "I thought there were some flashes on both sides of the ball and the kicking game, flashing in each of the three units, but we're not even close. Back to work. This is an important three-day stretch for us now."
Not close, Coach?
"We just know we're not close," Garrett continued. "The consistency you need with players, with units, throughout practice, young guys, how we communicate, we're just a long way off. I don't think it's unique. Six real practices into training camp, that's where teams are. But the blue-white scrimmage is always a good barometer to see where guys are, how guys handle it. It's not a game. We understand that. It's very situational, but you do get a glimpse to check in 10 days into it to see where we are. It's incumbent on us to clean it up as coaches and get back here the next three days and really take the next step as a football team."
Garrett was not asked if the distance his team was from being where they want to be is about the same distance between the team's camp in Oxnard, Calif., and where holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott is training on a Mexican resort in Cabo San Lucas.
One can only wonder.
