When the 12 Cowboys draft picks arrived at Valley Ranch for their first workout of rookie camp, they felt a little overwhelmed to be in the big show, but they were only competing against fellow rookies.

Then the veterans arrived for the OTA's and Mini Camp and their taste of the NFL got a little saltier.  Now that they've put on the pads for the first two-a-day workout of training camp, Bradie James had to chuckle a bit about what those rooks are going through.

"Oh some of the rookies, they're learning." James said.   "It's not a game that you play in shorts and jerseys.  This was the first day with pads, the guys were getting a little roughed up, but I think the rookies look decent. You have to be consistent.  You can't celebrate one play and have a down play; you can't take a play off, you have to be right every play."

Just a few of the lessons Bradie is trying to teach some of the youngsters who have five more
practices before the new week arrives.  DeMarcus Ware still vividly remembers his rookie season in 2005 coming to the Cowboys from Troy State.  He's now doing his best to mentor another player from a small school, Jason Williams from Western Illinois.

"The thing is right now he's listening, he's listening and he's learning as much as he can" Ware said about the first player the Cowboys drafted this year with the 69th overall pick. "  He's an athlete just in general and he had a great first day today in half pads on.  A lot of the guys who are rookies, they were learning and just moving forward."

You're looking for leaders on the Cowboys?  Looks like you just found two of them in James and Ware.

Much more from Day 2 of Cowboys Training Camp coverage including Desmond Purnell's report on Tony Romo's first chat with the media...tonight on The 33 News at 9:00pm

The first day of two-a-day workouts brought 8,686 fans to the Alamodome today and though the Cowboys were in full pads for the first practice, they only practiced in shoulder pads for the second workout.  No matter the what pads they wore the edict remained the same from Wade Phillips....NO hitting!

"My Dad ( Bum Phillips ) practiced with shorts and shoulder pads every practice. It was still live" Phillips said, maintaining that his men are still required to go full speed and get to the spot of the tackle.
 
"Well, we work tacking drills, we work at getting to the position to be able to hit somebody, and we work on wrapping up and doing those things in other drills." said Phillips. "Some of it is just you've got to run into somebody and wrap them up.   You don't need them tackling people to the ground all of the time, but you need to get them into the position to be able to make the tackle, and that's what they are doing."

Even though the defensive players lick their chops to get able to do some hitting, they have to wait until the pre-season games and that seems just fine to DeMarcus Ware.  "You gotta get that edge thing back; seeing all of the balls, and getting off.  Learning the guy you are going against even though you just go against him in practice, they know you just as well so it's a little bit harder. So I'm just trying to get to where I need to be" Ware said.

Phillips does not believe that the lack of tackling will hurt this team resulting in missed tackles during the season.

"They do bang them, and they do bump them with their shoulders and so forth; they grab and knock the ball and pull the ball out, and you work on those things" Phillips said.  "You don't necessarily have to take them to the ground to be able to get in position to be able to tackle.  If a guys not a good tackler then we'll work extra on some of the specifics.  A lot of is getting into the position to tackle and not the hitting itself."

More touch football continues at the Alamodome tomorrow with one practice at 2:15pm.  The 33 Sports will be at every practice of  Training  Camp and make sure to check back with us often for the very latest on the Dallas Cowboys

If you want to see a Cowboys game at the New Cowboys Stadium, you can get your chance to purchase a limited number of single-game tickets tomorrow morning starting at 10:00am.

Tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or online at ticketmaster.com or in person at the following Ticketmaster outlets.
 Macy's Fiesta, Shops at Willowbend, Majestic Theatre, TBAAL, Firewheel Town Square, HEB and Homeland

The tickets range from $129 to $239

For better or for worse, The Cowboys have said good-bye to Terrell Owens, and say what you will about T.O., but for all the controversy he brought to Dallas, he had just as much production. So with Owens out of the picture, the remaining Cowboy receivers, know they're going to have to earn the respect of opposing defenses.

"I would not prefer to get the respect. If you go into a fight, I'd rather have someone think I couldn't fight, if I got into one, rather than someone be prepared for me. We like the challenge and we're gonna continue to get better everyday," says receiver Miles Austin.

Receiver Roy Williams agrees. "We're gonna fly under the radar. We don't have the big high profile guys that everybody else has but we're gonna do what we're supposed to do and catch the ball."

The Cowboys say they don't have one receiver to replace T.O. They have 3... Dallas is banking on Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin as a group to get the job done.  
 
Tony Romo says "They've worked their butts off this off season. I think we're a lot deeper than what people think. If we stay healthy, I really like what we got at that position.

Offensive Coordinator, Jason Garrett says, "I don't know if they're going to be fearful or not, but we like are receivers... These guys have all worked hard. We're gonna worry about ourselves... Come that first week of September, hopefully they'll be ready to go, I think they will."

In that case, The trio of Williams, Crayton, and Austin better make the most of their time at training camp. Even when you combine their total touchdowns, Owens still outscored them by one.

Thursday, The Cowboys had their first practice in pads with neither the offense or defense claiming the spotlight... But Friday their was no doubt who gained bragging rights.

Bum Phillips, who attended today's practice, had to be proud of his son Wade, because the head coach/ defensive coordinator had his defense ready. The Dallas "D" came up with 3 big interceptions today... So while the defense is off to an early start, they know it's just a matter of time before their offense catches up.

Cowboys Linebacker, Bradie James said "The Defense had a good day. We know in the morning, the offense will bounce back so when you're on that roller coaster, you got to be ready for that dip because the offense will be ready, tomorrow morning."

Tight End Jason Witten said, "We didn't have as a good of a day as we did yesterday. The Defense probably got a little more today but that's what competition is all about."

The Cowboys will have another two-a-day session Saturday beginning at 8:50 AM.

Jerry Jones spent the better part of 20 minutes at Cowboys Training Camp trying to paint the picture of the kind of party atmosphere the new Cowboys Stadium will be.

"Picture the experience of the Pavilion at the Nelson, or the infield at the Kentucky Derby, open completely to the event" said the Cowboys Owner/GM.   "We want fans to enjoy a party atmosphere, collegiate, very loose and we want for them to enjoy the participation of  the game." 

To accomplish that vision, the Cowboys have created a Party Pass ticket for $29 which will allow the fans to stand on the tall ramps in the end zone of the stadium.  "We sold 10-thousand of them for event with our soccer, Gold Cup" said Jones. "Those people came through with the Party Pass, migrated down to club areas, stood at some of our rail areas where you can hold your drinks.  Several people deep watched the game, or stepped back and watched on the video board. It's a big part of what we want our stadium to be" Jones said.

Right now, the Party Pass will be available for the inaugural regular season game against the New York Giants on September 20th.

Jones said it's not just about having a ticket to the first ever game at the stadium, but to help create an atmosphere that fans haven't experienced around here before.  "We want to make this stadium one of the real amazing venues of sports" Jones said. "To have that kind of electricity in the end zone, people at other parts of the stadium will gain energy.  We hope to have a loud stadium when the Cowboys are at home."