Interview with the Enemy: Dallas Cowboys

OXNARD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 18: Donovan Ezeiruaku #6 of the Dallas Cowboys pulls off Taliese Fuaga #75 of the New Orleans Saints helmet during joint practice at River Ridge Playing Fields on August 18, 2026 in Oxnard, California. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images) | Getty Images NJ: At this point, everyone knows the joint practice between New Orleans and Dallas was chippy as all get out. Before that joint practice and since then, the Saints haven't really had any issues with scuffles. Has that kind of intensity and physicality been a consistent theme throughout the Cowboys' offseason?

DH: I would say the intensity has been there through training camp, a certain amount of energy, but we haven't had the scuffles we saw in that joint practice. Christian Parker is our new defensive coordinator and he has brought a swagger back to the defensive side of the ball, and that has led to some trash-talking during practices as a very poor Cowboys defense from 2025 gets a complete makeover. Brian Schottenheimer is also a high-energy coach so there has been some friendly banter and interplay between the offense and defense, but only OLB Donovan Ezeiruaku, who was thrown out of the Saints practice, was also told to leave a practice earlier in training camp for a similar fighting problem. That appeared to be a very isolated incident because we never saw much else like that until the joint practice. I don't know what happened during the joint practice, but the fighting seemed out of the ordinary for how the Cowboys had conducted most of their practices.

NJ: Which Dallas position battle or group of players has the most to gain from the additional preseason reps against New Orleans?