Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) and head coach Jason Garrett bump fist after throwing passes at the end of NFL football practice at the team's training facility, Tuesday, June 13, 2017, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
FRISCO - Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett likes to make sure his players remain engaged through the monotony of offseason practices.
One way Garrett has found to keep players locked in during the final week of offseason practices for their three-day mandatory mini-camp is to stoke his players' competitive juices with some arcade-style games during team meetings.
Garrett had the Cowboys competing in a Pop-A-Shot basketball game Tuesday to open the three-day mini-camp. On Wednesday, Cowboys players competed in Skeet Ball.
The arcade-style games go hand in hand with the Cowboys' "Compete. Execute. Finish." mantra for the team.
"It's all about just competing and having good fun and camaraderie," Cowboys receiver Cole Beasley said. "We make it fun by doing offense vs. defense. It's all about having trust in your teammates."
Garrett called the Pop-A-Shot basketball game the "Derek Jeter Challenge."
Here's the twist:
"You don't know the game. You pick five guys before you even know what the game is," Beasley said. "They call it the Derek Jeter Challenge because someone said if you were starting a team and it doesn't matter what the game was and you don't know what you're playing, who do you pick. You want those type of guys on your team, who you know are going to come through for you and bust his butt to compete no matter what the challenge is for his teammates. That's kind of the thing behind it."
Perhaps not surprising to some Cowboys fans, the offense destroyed the defense in Pop-A-Shot basketball Tuesday. They won the game, 433-151.
"We didn't even have to go to our last two people," Beasley said. "We crushed them."
Beasley said the offense also beat the defense in Skeet Ball on Wednesday, although the score was much closer than Tuesday's rout.
Garrett is documenting the results of each game for all the players to see each day.
The Cowboys also turned to some non-football games last year during the offseason, Beasley said. The Cowboys competed in a Steph Curry Challenge where players had to dribble with two balls simultaneously. Beasley said he competed in that against former Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne.
Did Beasley win?
"Oh yeah," he said.
Beasley and Cowboys safety Jeff Heath said that sometimes the game chose by Garrett doesn't even involve a ball. Beasley said it might be stacking cups or some other type of competition.
"It's random," Heath added. "It's always competition with like some strategy games or some shooting games. It's just a way to promote competition, whether it's on the field or whether we're in here shooting baskets. That brings out the best in everybody."
Beasley said the Cowboys have to pick a different five players every time.
Beasley's strategy to picking a quality five?
"You try to mix it well," Beasley said. "If I'm picking, it's guys who have some kind of good hand-eye coordination, but you have to mix a lineman in there, a strong guy, just in case it's something that you need a little strength."