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FRISCO, Texas -- It's more than two hours before the Dallas Cowboys take on the Green Bay Packers when cornerback Brandon Carr walks onto the Lambeau Field grass. With his headphones on, Carr starts his early pregame routine, backpedaling down one sideline, then the other. All the while he is bare foot. It is not an ode to the prestigious turf that is not frozen this day. It's not a reminder of parents telling kids to take their shoes off before the come in from outside for dinner. Carr started the routine in the Aug. 25 preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks, feeling the turf -- and rubber pellets -- in his toes. "Just trying to find a way to get myself mentally locked in and get a routine going," Carr said. "I always work out barefoot in the sand and do those things and I just liked the way my feet felt on the ground. It's a good way to get range of motion and ankle flexibility and it something that stuck with me. I'm just making it mine right now." No other Cowboy has followed Carr's lead -- yet. "I couldn't tell you why, but it looks cool," safety Byron Jones said. "Looks like I don't want to mess with him." If teammates think it is strange, they have not told Carr. "No one bothers anybody when they're doing their pregame ritual," Jones said. "That's their thing." What does Jones do? He will sit on the bench, no headphones and just observe. "Just take it all in," Jones said. "The silence before the storm." Carr does not know what others think. Or care. "I'm locked in anyway so during those two hours before the game I won't even say too much about it or talk or even acknowledge it," Carr said. "It just something I do. It makes me feel good when I put my cleats on and go out there and really get warmed up, so I'm trying to keep it up as long as it don't snow." And that's the rub. The Cowboys have potential cold-weather games in Pittsburgh (Nov. 13), New Jersey (Dec. 11) and Philadelphia (Jan. 1). "I'll probably put socks on," Carr said. "Maybe walk around the locker room barefoot. I'll figure it out."
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