IRVING, Texas -- For Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, the game is always about the details. The sooner the Cowboys' rookies understand that, the better for themselves and for the team.
That's why Garrett stopped a rudimentary jumping jacks drill during a warmup period before practice last weekend.
The players were supposed to count, "one, two, three, one," followed by "one, two, three, two," and so on until they reached five.
A perturbed Garrett, doing his best drill sergeant impersonation, quickly stopped the drill because too many players weren't in sync. He loudly reprimanded the rookies, making them restart.
"We have to do things the right way," Garrett said. "If you don't do things the right way right from the start, those things will continue throughout practice. We have a high standard for the way we want to do things.
"The stretch lines need to be right. The jumping jacks need to be right, and that carries over to the different drills we do before we start running football plays. Everyone needs to understand that if we're doing them, we're doing them for a reason and they need to do it the right way."
Garrett takes nothing for granted. The coaching staff showed the rookies exactly how the drill was supposed to be done before their first practice.
"If they don't do it that way, we stop it and get them to do it right," Garrett said. "That's not to suggest in any way that if we don't stop it, they're doing it right because, sometimes, you have to coach on the run. But if they're not doing things the right way, you have to let them know what the standard is."