OXNARD, California — Episodes of shoving and boisterous shouts Wednesday filled the Dallas Cowboys’ final drill of their last padded training camp practice on the West Coast.

Afterward, two players said they appreciated the intensity — and understood the root cause of it with training camp winding down and roster cuts coming in six days.

“It’s the last really competitive day,” All-Pro defensive end Micah Parsons said Wednesday. “That’s probably my last time competing with a couple of those guys. 

That’s a big part of it.”

Even so, two more established players generated the most fraught moment of the afternoon.

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson caught a pass during a red zone drill late in practice and delivered a strong stiff arm to safety Donovan Wilson

Who took exception to the physicality. Wilson yelled at Ferguson and took a swing at the big tight end. Coaches and teammates rushed in to break up the fight. 

Tempers eased. For a minute.

The first-team defense stopped the offense a couple plays later when quarterback Dak Prescott scrambled and threw a pass too low for wide receiver Jalen Brooks The defensive players on the field and on the sideline erupted into thunderous shouts in a celebration that looked befitting of a playoff win.

Offensive players appeared irked by that.

A few moments later, with second-teamers on the field, defensive tackle Al-Quadin Muhammad pushed several offensive linemen after the whistle. The linemen then drove Muhammad to the ground and dog-piled on top of him, leading to a scuffle that drew players sprinting in from both sidelines.

When the second-teamers scored on consecutive fade-route touchdown passes from Trey Lance after that, offensive players got their own chance to erupt into celebration, screaming and taunting their teammates-turned-temporary-opponents.

Many more instances of trash talk and extra shoving unfolded throughout the practice. But the entire team came together after that red zone drill to end the session, and offensive guard Terence Steele said he enjoyed seeing the competitiveness cranked up.

“It’s cool,” he said. “It’s fun to be a part of.”

The Cowboys will hold a walk-through Thursday and depart Oxnard, a city they’ve remained in for more than a month to prepare for the season, to return home. The team is scheduled to play the Los Angeles Chargers in their third and final preseason game Saturday night at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.

Another important day arrives next week: The Cowboys must trim their roster from a maximum of 90 players to 53 by 3 p.m. CDT on Tuesday.

Decisions made during cut downs alter lives, for better or worse.

Parsons felt that factored into the heightened intensity on the field Wednesday.

“Next week we’ll be a completely different team, so this is a lot of guys’ last showing,” Parsons said. “You want to see that drive, especially from that second group. I think that’s why it’s so important for me to really hype these guys up, because a lot of guys don’t understand the opportunity and the gratitude of being out here and knowing this is not a guarantee. We need those types of days.”

Parsons said he didn’t know entering the practice that he’d take part in raucous celebrations or several small scuffles. Midway through the two-minute drill, though, he understood the mood had changed.

“It just developed as it went on,” Parsons said. “Something just kind of sparked. We were just kind of like, ‘You really got to take things to another level.’”

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Source: Tampa Bay Times