Cowboys Special Teams Not So Special

It began with the opening kick off against Houston Friday.

Texans kick returner Andre Davis crossed up midfield for 68-yards.

The Dallas Cowboys special teams have been less than special lately and that has raised eyebrows from everyone except the coaching staff.

"Special teams, you know the return teams are outstanding, have been this preseason," said Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips. "Our punt team had trouble the first game, and we've had some trouble on kick off coverage."

That may be the understatement of the day, but Phillips insists that until he gets his regular special team players in the game, they will continue to struggle.

"Well a lot has to do with losing Keith Davis," says fullback Deon Anderson, a key special teams contributor. "He was the special teams captain last year and he contributed a lot to the special teams."

Davis is gone as a free agent to Miami, creating one of many holes the Cowboys are trying to fill.

"We've had a couple of returns that we don't like, some of it is the learning curve from guys that haven't been in there and some of it is guys that won't be in there also," Phillips said.

Miles Austin, last season's kick returner, and Isaiah Stanback, who also returns kicks, have both been injured this preseason.

"The first game, I felt like it was our worst game on special teams, our last two games, I feel like we progressively got better, a couple of slip ups here and there," Austin says. "We just got to finish it up."

"Whenever we have weaknesses, we put someone else there, its like a chess game," Anderson says. "We still have moving pieces, you know."

Last season, the kick off return unit was one of the worst that Dallas has had in years, and the punt coverage team ranked 29th in the league.

So when it comes to special teams, Dallas hasn't been so special.

Dallas Stars Introduce Sean Avery

The Dallas Stars introduced Sean Avery at the American Airlines Center today. He certainly seemed like a level headed guy despite all the crazy things we've heard about him as the most hated man in the NHL. How about those knock down, drag out fights he has had with Stars Left Wing Brenden Morrow. "I think with hockey players, the one, is that we can have a battle, but as soon as we become teammates, it's kind of all forgotten," says Avery. He says even looking forward to perhaps getting a chance to play with him on the same line.

"You almost have more respect for guys battle, whether plain or actually fights," he says. "It's certainly going to be a lot of fun playing with him and Steve Ott, and it will probably bring my fighting majors down a little bit since I usually end up fighting one of those guys."

Do you think that will really happen?

Avery says hockey players leave all that stuff on the ice and says guys on the ice don’t hold grudges.