Cowboys have a pretty 'cool' way of tracking the heat as they settle for indoor practices

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Cowboys are hiding from the Texas heat out of necessity, practicing inside on artificial turf rather than outside on grass as they would prefer now that the regular-season routine is finally here.

Brian Schottenheimer isn't sure how much a brutal summer that's still on full blast in September will have to ease up for the Cowboys to get back outside. The coach has seen an interesting way of finding the answer.

"It's more of the humidity and what we're doing with the sweating. And we do all the sweat testing," Schottenheimer said. "We've got these cool urinals. I don't know how much they cost, but they must be expensive. It tells you whatever your urination levels are. It's crazy."

The Dallas area hasn't had measurable rainfall in nearly two months. Wednesday was the eighth day of September with a triple-digit high temperature, tying a record.

The Cowboys have their last full practice of the week Thursday, three days before the season opener at the New York Giants . The forecast calls for temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit and a chance for rain, but Schottenheimer said the team was "probably" headed for another day inside.

The indoor facility at Cowboys headquarters is actually a 12,000-seat stadium that is used for high school games. The grass field is a short walk away, between the locker room and the dining room.

When Dallas practices inside, brief periods for different position groups sometimes move outside. But if they do, those sessions don't last long.

Schottenheimer held two shorter outdoor practices last week, but both started at 8 a.m. The regular practice time is early afternoon, but the triple-digit heat index at that time has been nearly constant for weeks. It could linger into the second half of September.

"I think the way the schedule's built this year for the first couple games, we're not going to be able to have much of a routine," Schottenheimer said. "So that's why the whole live in the moment, win the day, I think matters. If I felt like the only way for us to get ready to perform well in this game was to go outside, I can promise you we'd go outside."

Strange as it may sound, Schottenheimer would put the aforementioned urinals in the sports science category. He says science is driving the decision to practice inside or outside.

"We're just trying to do what we can to avoid the heat," Schottenheimer said. "We don't play in the heat. So right now we're just trying to do our best to get on the grass for certain things and then be inside for certain things. And right now we just feel we can get better work done inside."

That's what some of the, uh, measurables are saying.