With short-yardage focus, Cowboys QB Tony Romo will not practice Tuesday
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. -- With the focus of Tuesday's practice on short-yardage and goal-line situations, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will not practice.
This will be Romo's third day off in nine training camp practices, mixed in with two off days for the entire team. The Cowboys did not practice Monday.
"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," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said.
The Cowboys will practice Wednesday and Thursday with a walk-through Friday, leading into Saturday's preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams. Romo is not expected to play against the Rams. Since 2012, Romo has not played in the first preseason game, with Garrett opting to give his backup quarterback time with the first-team offensive line and wanting to see more of the younger players.
While Romo will miss Tuesday's practice, the Cowboys will welcome back defensive linemen Tyrone Crawford (back), Cedric Thornton (virus) and Terrell McClain (toe). Crawford missed six practices, McClain five and Thornton three, which forced the Cowboys to move players across the defensive line. Linebacker Kyle Wilber (back) could return to duty after missing four practices.
"What you try to do is use your eyes, you listen to what they say and you make your decisions accordingly," Garrett said. "We feel like they can come back to practice, but we will keep our eye on them in practice to see how they are doing, listen to their feedback and we will go from there. These guys have had a little time off, they've done a good job of rehabbing and getting themselves healthy, and now it's time to go again."
The return of the defensive linemen should help with the short-yardage and goal-line work, which will feature live tackling.
"I think you always want to see how your team responds to the physicalness of goal line," Garrett said. "We don't tackle very much. We tackled the other day with young players at the end of the Blue-White Scrimmage and then we'll tackle today in this goal-line period, but then we won't tackle any other time during training camp.
"But this is a situation where you have to work on this. It's going to come up in the game on Saturday night; we're going to be in goal line on offense or on defense. You want to make sure the team is prepared for it."