Cowboys with big plays include Byron Jones, Jaylon Smith and Taco on Dak’s birthday

A packed house showed up for the Dallas Cowboys’ first weekend practice of training camp. Actor Omar Epps was among the 7,407 fans on hand to watch the Cowboys run through drills on Dak Prescott’s 24th birthday.

Prescott also had a surprise guest when his father, Nat, showed up.

Among the takeaways from the field:

1. Safety Byron Jones flashed his play-making ability in two-minute drills. Jones came down with the ball out of bounds on a deep throw from Dak Prescott to Brice Butler in the end zone. On the next play, Jones batted the ball away. That’s the type of play-making that the Cowboys would like to see from their 2015 first-round pick.

2. Linebacker Jaylon Smith made himself known throughout practice. He shot the gap and would have had a tackle for loss on a Darren McFadden run. Those plays haven’t been too prevalent early in camp, but it’s the type of impact the Cowboys felt Smith could make when they used a second-round pick on him last year.

3. The pass rush had a solid day, too. Defensive end Taco Charlton, the Cowboys’ first-round draft choice from Michigan, easily got by offensive tackle Chaz Green in a drill, and followed it up with a win over guard La’el Collins. Collins also lost on a consecutive plays to defensive end Tyrone Crawford. Crawford beat him with a spin move and they repeated the drill with the same result. The Cowboys have to hope it’s a sign that Charlton and Crawford can bolster what has been a lackluster pass rush in recent years.

4. A couple more players went down with injuries on Saturday. Rookie cornerback Jourdan Lewis, going through his first full practice since joining the team, exited early with a hamstring injury. Owner Jerry Jones didn’t know the extent of the injury for the third-round draft choice. Defensive end David Irving is also dealing with an ankle issue.

5. Dan Bailey remains Mr. Consistent. He connected on all six of his field goal attempts, from 33, 37, 40, 44, 47 and 49 yards early in practice. Then he knocked through a 57-yard field goal during the first-team’s two-minute drive, and a 29-yarder to cap the second-team’s two-minute drive. Bailey made 84.4 percent of his field goals last season.

Quote of the day

“Fantastic. Really an amazing story. I am no Siskel and Ebert. but how the whole thing was shot. It was really a beautiful movie and I thought they captured a really important story in our world’s history really, really well.” — Jason Garrett on Dunkirk, a film the team saw together Thursday evening

Injury report

DT Maliek Collins (hip flexor): Day to day.

WR Ryan Switzer (hamstring): Expected to be ready after HOF game.

CB Jourdan Lewis (hamstring): Extent of injury unknown.

DE David Irving (ankle): Extent of injury unknown.

LB Justin Durant (Non-football injury): Day to day.

This story was originally published July 29, 2017 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Cowboys with big plays include Byron Jones, Jaylon Smith and Taco on Dak’s birthday."