FRISCO, Texas – After partaking in practice twice last week, Tony Romo was absent Wednesday as the Cowboys began their preparations for Cleveland.
That isn't exactly surprising, since team owner/general manager Jerry Jones has already ruled out the possibility of Romo playing this weekend. But it will be interesting to monitor his continued progress as the week goes along.
"Hopefully, he can do something over the course of this week a lot like he did last week. We'll just take it day by day," said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys got their first look at their secondary without Barry Church and Morris Claiborne. Both injured starters were held out on Wednesday after suffering serious injuries against the Eagles. For the time being, the return of Orlando Scandrick offsets those losses in the secondary.
That said, Garrett acknowledged the difficulty of keeping two injured players on the 53-man roster for an extended period of time, saying it's a situation the Cowboys need to evaluate as this week moves along.
"The timetable for their injury is big," he said. "If we feel like they're going to be back in a relatively short period of time, they're certainly worth the roster spot, because both of those guys have a big impact on our team. Now we've got to work through this week and see if we get enough guys up there in the secondary who are eligible to play and can help us."
While the Dallas defense copes with those losses, the offense got a bit of a boost Wednesday when Chaz Green returned to practice. The second-year tackle has been limited by a foot sprain since Week 4 and has missed the last three games.
Green's return is great news for the Cowboys' depth, given the back injury that Tyron Smith has been battling all year. However, Smith was also at practice and appears to have come out of the win against Philadelphia just fine.
With prior injury concerns like Lance Dunbar and Dez Bryant practicing on Wednesday, the only Cowboys offensive player sitting out was Romo.
Defensive end was also sitting out of practice, as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
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