IRVING, Texas - It's one thing for the Cowboys to have their two-time Pro Bowl quarterback returning to practice. To have him performing near his best is even better.
Wade Phillips said Tony Romo was throwing passes with velocity during Monday's practice, which must have been a welcomed sight after three weeks of Brad Johnson taking the first-team reps, and a limited Romo throwing last week. Romo practiced with a splint to guard the fifth finger on his throwing hand, which he fractured in the overtime loss at Arizona on Oct. 12.
When Romo has participated in practice while wearing the splint before, his passes appeared to have more wobble than usual. Today, the tight spiral returned.
"Romo is better and better," Phillips said. "Last week he was OK. Today he was a lot better, I think. He had more zip on the ball. He felt more comfortable. He's still taking snaps - didn't seem to be a problem. It's looking better and better for him as far as getting back to where he was."
Romo has said he has experienced pain on some throws, including the 15-yard out route, but it is something he can deal with. Others require less use of the fingers and snap on the ball. At this point, though, it doesn't appear Romo will be limited by any finger issues come Sunday night, and there's hope he can play at a high level.
"Looked like it to me today, yeah," Phillips said. "He threw a lot of really good passes today, had a lot of zip on them, threw the deep ball well, threw a lot of routes really well."
Portis 50-50
With rookie Felix Jones (hamstring) sitting out Monday's practice, the Cowboys have an important part of their running game that must be considered questionable. Luckily for them, so do the Redskins.
Clinton Portis, who has gashed the Cowboys for a combined 225 yards in his last two games against them, missed Washington's practice Monday because of a sprained knee. Portis injured the knee early in Washington's Week Nine loss to Pittsburgh, but finished the game. The Redskins did not practice at all last week, enjoying their bye, but Portis did undergo treatments, and the pain has apparently gotten worse.
Redskins coach Jim Zorn on Monday said Portis has a bone bruise to his femur, as well as a sprain. Given that, he put the back's chances of playing at 50 percent. Officially, he is day-to-day.
"We need to get the pain out of the knee and see how he progresses along," Zorn said. "I would say there's a 50-50 chance. I'm hoping he would be better than that . . . It would be a major issue for us. He has been a tremendous asset to our football team. He's a driving force."
The numbers suggest that as well. Portis is second in the league in rushing with 995 yards on 200 carries this year, 20 yards back of the league leader, Minnesota's Adrian Peterson. He has seven touchdowns and, beginning in Week Four against the Cowboys, had five games of over 120 rushing yards.
Portis' primary backup is Ladell Betts, though he is having knee issues of his own. He practiced on a limited basis Monday after having missed Washington's last three games.
What's The Hold Up?
After announcing that Brad Johnson would be relegated to emergency quarterback duty and Brooks Bollinger would ascend to No. 2 on the depth chart, the Cowboys went in search of a new holder for field goals and extra points.
Patrick Crayton's name was bandied about because of his strong hands, as was that of punter Sam Paulescu and even Bollinger himself, though he had never done the job before. Well, as of Monday, the Cowboys still haven't settled on anyone. At the beginning of the season, Mat McBriar was the backup holder to Johnson, though that option went out the door when he was placed on Injured Reserve.
Wade Phillips said he wanted to be completely comfortable with who the holder will be, which might mean the team takes a longer-than-expected look at all the candidates. He even mentioned a possible scenario where Johnson keeps the job and remains on the 45-man active roster - virtually unheard of for a third quarterback because of the need to maximize the contributions of each player.
Proud Alumni
Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas admits he is following his alma mater, Texas Tech, a lot more this season.
But the reason isn't just because his Red Raiders are ranked No. 2 in the country after beating Texas and Oklahoma State in consecutive weeks. It's because he's actually getting to watch them now.
"Being in Miami, I never got to see them play," said Thomas, who starred at Tech from 1992-96. "They've been on (national TV) the last two weeks . . . that means they're playing well."
Playing well doesn't come close to describing what the Red Raiders have done this season. Texas Tech has two more regular-season games, including a road game at Oklahoma and a possible Big XII Championship game before they can make their own case of playing for the national championship.
Talk of championships, undefeated seasons and even consecutive nationally-televised games are things that Thomas admits he never expected from his school.
"No, I didn't. I really didn't. It's tougher to compete with the Texas and OU programs recruiting-wise," said Thomas, who also admits he's been chatting it up in the locker room. "I've been doing some talking around here. Yeah, you can ask guys like Roy (Williams, WR) and Leonard (Davis). Roy has to wear some Texas Tech stuff soon."
-Nick Eatman
Short Shots
The Redskins will have a new cornerback for Sunday's game, the newly-signed DeAngelo Hall, who said of his first opponent Monday, "That's real special because it's obviously a fierce rivalry. To be a part of it and jump in full steam, it's definitely going to be exciting." . . . Jason Witten will play Sunday with extra protection for his fractured rib for the second straight game, but said he's feeling better in practice . . . Leonard Davis summed up the Valley Ranch vibe best. While a hot topic on plenty of minds was the help the Giants gave the Cowboys by beating Philadelphia last night, Davis echoed the team's sentiment by saying, "We can't really worry about the other teams that we're not playing. All we can worry about is what's in front of us."
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