Defensive end Myles Garrett was held out of the Los Angeles Rams’ joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday. At the same time, wide receiver Puka Nacua left the workout early because of an apparent injury. Sean McVay said Garrett did not participate as a precaution because of swelling i n his knee, and that the two-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade in June, was feeling 85% healthy, according to his new head coach. Garrett missed time earlier in training camp because of what McVay described as lower body soreness. The Rams are still learning how to manage Garrett’s workload in practice. The Cleveland Browns limited reps for Garrett later on in his tenure, allowing him to play in 83 of a possible 85 games over his final five seasons there. “I don’t know what 100% is going to look like, but it must be pretty good if that’s 85%,” McVay said. “He’s so tough, he wanted to be able to be out there. … There’s nothing to be concerned about. It was just kind of us erring on the side of caution. There weren’t any setbacks, anything like that.” Nacua came out of practice accompanied by team trainers, but McVay did not have an update on what happened to his No. 1 receiver, who had 129 receptions for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. PUKA NACUA AT WOODLAND HILLS TRAINING CAMP 081126 WITH DALLAS COWBOYS; LEFT EARLY WITH INJURY “I’m not exactly sure what was going on with him, but I thought ‘J Witt’ (Jordan Whittington), Konata Mumpfield, did a great job stepping in,” McVay said. Both McVay and Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer came away pleased with how their defenses performed against each other’s high-powered offenses during the nearly two-hour session, but Dak Prescott was also pleased with the Cowboys’ offensive showing. “With our expectations and standards, we want to go out, and we want to dominate, but hell, this is another NFL team and a good NFL team, you know, and made some changes on their defensive side as well to get stronger. So it was a good, it was good matchup, you know, some back and forth. As I said, it started out maybe not as fast as we wanted to, but then again, when it’s a run period, it’s hard to tell, you know, who’s going to the ground or what’s a real tackle and not. And then ultimately I felt like we got it going and finished with a good day,” Prescott said. Defensive linebacker and leader DeMarvion Overshown echoed Prescott’s sentiment. “It’s good to hit a different color jersey. You know, I feel like we’ve been going at it with our offense, and they’re one of the best in the league. So getting to see what we got versus another top offense, it puts stuff in perspective. So just another block, you know, that we’re building on. So it’s gonna feel good to go and correct the things that we need to correct. And so we’ll be back at it on Thursday,” Overshown said. “Man, it’s great. It’s great seeing the guys in our room come out and make plays. We talk about it all the time in the linebacker room, just feeding off each other. You want to see everybody in the back room do good.” Coming off seasons where the Rams and Cowboys each struggled to stop the pass and made significant changes to overhaul their respective secondaries, the initial returns against live opposition were promising. “I thought it was a battle,” Schottenheimer said. “You know, they had their plays, we had our plays. It’s what a joint practice should look like.” Cowboys reserve linebacker Justin Barron was the day’s standout performer, intercepting Rams starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has won a Super Bowl and is from Highland Park, once and backup Stetson Bennett twice, while cornerback Shavon Revel continued his strong camp by breaking up passes intended for Nacua and Davante Adams. Dak Prescott couldn’t see what Dallas’ defense was up to, but the star quarterback could hear it. “I’m looking forward to watching it,” Prescott said. “I know I heard the cheers and the hollering; could tell it was our guys. Obviously, they’ve been doing it to us throughout camp and getting after it, so it’s cool to see just that energy, that identity continue.” Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie did the same on the other field by frequently frustrating the Cowboys’ passing game, and safety Quentin Lake came up with a late interception on Prescott’s throw intended for George Pickens in a red zone drill. It was the first of two joint practices for both teams, with the Cowboys and Rams each set to work with the New Orleans Saints next week. Dallas will host New Orleans at its Oxnard, California, training camp base on Tuesday, and Los Angeles is set to do the same at its team complex in the San Fernando Valley one week from Thursday before their preseason game. “These are opportunities for us to grow, even though we don’t game plan,” McVay said. “We’re just kind of testing our rules, but there was a lot of good stuff, really, from both sides.” Cowboys backup running back Jaydon Blue fumbled during 11-on-11 practice. Prescott spoke about the team taking care of the football. “That was a big part of, you know, some things that we didn’t do good last year, along with the red zones, was just turning the ball over, including myself. And so yeah, trust me, Blue will hear about it. But Blue is a pro, and he understands the accountability and the standard of what we’re trying to achieve. 0And I don’t think anybody’s more pissed about it than Blue is himself. So he’ll do everything necessary to make sure that he’s getting better and limited in any chances of giving defenses that (opportunity),” Prescott said. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less