IRVING, Texas – For the second straight day, quarterback Tony Romo was not on the practice field and did not participate in the team's on-field prep for Sunday's game with the Eagles.
Romo, dealing with a bad back that has required an epidural shot this week, continues his treatment. The Cowboys insist he still has a shot to play this week.
Meanwhile Kyle Orton took the first-team reps while newly-signed backup Jon Kitna also got some much-needed snaps.
Garrett reiterated the team doesn't have a concrete rule when it comes to players not practicing during the week but playing in the game. If Romo can play in the game, it sounds like he will get that shot, regardless of the snaps he misses in practice.
"Certainly you want him to practice, we don't anticipate him practicing today so we'll see how he does the rest of the day and how he wakes up tomorrow and go from there," Garrett said Thursday. "You certainly want your quarterback to practice at some point during the week, Tony obviously has played a lot of football for us so you give him more leeway than most but just more than anything else it's a health issue and see how he's feeling."
Wide receiver Dez Bryant popped up on the injury report Wednesday with a reoccurring back injury that has plagued him all season. Bryant was in uniform and participated in individual drills but seems limited as he spent time with the strength coaches as well.
Garrett didn't sound too concerned about Bryant's status. [embedded_ad]
"Dez started practicing and was working through the early part of practice (Wednesday) and his back was starting to bother him so we made him more limited," Garrett said in Thursday's press conference.
On the other side of the ball, middle linebackers Sean Lee and Ernie Sims did not practice. Lee (neck) was not on the field while Sims (hip/groin) worked with the strength coaches on the field.
Lee has missed the last two games and four of the last five with both a neck and hamstring injury. Garrett said the middle linebacker hasn't been ruled out of the game yet.
"We have not determined it, day-by-day," Garrett said. "Hopefully he will continue to make progress and see how he does and hopefully he can practice some football by weeks end."
On the field, cornerback Morris Claiborne (hamstring) and receiver Dwayne Harris (hamstring) were practicing and appear to be ready to return to action for Sunday night.
Other players who appeared on Wednesday's injury report – DeMarcus Ware (back), George Selvie (back), DeVonte Holloman (hip), Jason Hatcher (neck) and Jarius Wynn (chest) all practiced on Thursday.
