OXNARD, Calif. – Much like last week, Tony Romo won't practice Tuesday afternoon, as the Cowboys work their way back from their off day.
Romo practiced three days in a row last week, culminating in a hefty amount of red zone and situational work on Sunday afternoon. Cowboys coach Garrett said last week that it can make a big difference for a veteran player to get two days off in a row, which helps explain Romo's absence.
It also helps that Tuesday's practice will feature a lot of short-yardage and goal line repetitions, which won't require much throwing.
"Tony had the day off yesterday as did the rest of our team, so we felt like this was an appropriate day to give him that second day in a setting where we're not going to do that much throwing," Garrett said.
The starting quarterback might be sitting out, but Tuesday's practice should still be quite spirited. The goal line reps mean the Cowboys will be going through live contact for a portion of the practice. Garrett stressed the importance of that fact, given that it's one of just two times the team tackles during training camp
"I think you always want to see how your team responds to the physicalness of goal line," he said. "We don't tackle very much – we tackled the other day with the young players at the end of the Blue-White Scrimmage, and we'll tackle today in this goal line period. But then we won't tackle at any other time during training camp."
It likely won't last long, but the live contact should give players a chance to get their feet wet. The preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams is just four days away, and the Cowboys will undoubtedly face those situations.
"We want to be physical, we thud the runners up in a typical practice tempo – but this will be a situation where you have to work on this," Garrett said. "This is going to come up in the game on Saturday night – we're going to be in goal line on offense or defense. You want to make sure your team is prepared for it."
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