After Hall of Fame excursion, Cowboys ready to get back to work

Jason Witten isn’t worried about the Dallas Cowboys getting back into training camp mode after almost a week away from the practice fields.

The Cowboys went through their first walkthrough at their training camp home on Monday morning, the first time they’ve been on those fields since Aug. 1. They’ll have a full practice this afternoon.

It comes on the heels of a Hall of Fame excursion that saw the Cowboys open their preseason on Thursday night, attend owner Jerry Jones’ Hall of Fame bash on Friday night and then practice in the Cleveland area on Saturday before watching Jones deliver his speech later that night.

The Cowboys returned to California after Jones’ speech and had Sunday off.

“I don’t know if there has ever been a point in my life where I had 72 hours like that,” Witten said. “It was fun – a lot of fun – you’re humbled to be in audience. The message has been clear this morning – we have to go back to work.”

Witten and coach Jason Garrett doesn’t think that’ll be a problem for the team. Garrett was pleased with Saturday’s practice even though several players hung around till the end of Jones’ party that featured pop star Justin Timberlake.

“I think our team handled the last few days really, really well,” Garrett said. “We had a good practice on Tuesday before we left, handled the typical travel day before the game, had our meetings and our walkthrough leading up to the Thursday night game. A lot of our starting, front line players did not play in the game. They got a good workout beforehand. The guys who played in the game obviously got their number of snaps.

“The players were off on Friday and then we came back to work on Saturday, had a meeting, and practices at Case Western Reserve and had a very good practice. Then we traveled back after the ceremony and they were off yesterday. It will be a good stretch coming up for us, we’ve got four good days of practice leading up to the game this weekend [against the Rams].”

But Jones’ party remained the buzz around camp and Witten admitted he enjoyed it. After all, Timberlake and him are both proud of their Tennessee roots.

Asked if he’s given the ‘Hall of Fame’ title if he could top Jones’ party, Witten smiled and said: “I don’t think anybody can live up to that, but I’d give it one hell of a shot. Take a nice swing at it. That’s one for the ages right there, boys.”

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 4:28 PM with the headline "After Hall of Fame excursion, Cowboys ready to get back to work."