Wade to provide rest for the weary

by Dave Halprin on Dec 26, 2007 9:43 PM CST in News Comment 6 comments

Holiday travel has ceased so I should be back to a regular blogging schedule.

I just listened to Wade’s press conference today and here are my highlights with an attempt at reading between the lines.

T.O. and Andre Gurode are for sure out. So there’s two inactives come Sunday. Later in the press conference Wade said there are 5 or 6 already 'down' when commenting on who's playing and how long the starters will play. Jay Ratliff didn’t practice today and it sounded very much like he will also be inactive. They’ve already been practicing Marcus Spears as a backup NT for this week. Wade mentioned they might have to go with a 5-man front-line rotation, so expect Ratliff to sit this week.

At today’s practice Terence Newman and Pat Watkins were limited. I think he might, and I think he should, sit Newman this week. I would make him the #4 starter to be inactive. If Watkins is at all ailing, give him the game off, too. He is very valuable on special teams and we need that come playoff time.

Of course the subject of Tony Romo came up and how much he might play. Wade pretty much set the parameters without actually saying it. He hemmed and hawed about how much Romo would play and when they asked him about practice reps, he said they were getting the amount in proportion to how much they’ll play. Then he made a joke about not being able to tap dance around that question. Later, when asked about getting Romo at least a few reps with Terry Glenn in the game, he said that’s what they planned to do if Glenn plays. He also mentioned individual goals as a reason to play guys, but that they were subservient to the overall goal. So it sounds like Romo will get some snaps in the first half, but how long that may be is unknown. I’m guessing a quarter or a little more.

As for Terry Glenn, everything sounds like a go right now. He participated fully and Wade said if he wants to start he can start, if he feels up to it. Keep your fingers crossed that we see #83 on the field Sunday.

From Wade’s tone, I think we’ll see a lot of backups, especially later in the game. He wants to win but he made it clear that he has no problem protecting players in a game like this.

Nick Eatman has more on the Romo situation.

Comments

Mickey said

this morning, Gurode, Watkins, Newman, Ratliff, Columbo and maybe Flozell more than likely won't start. If it wasn't for indivdual records Witten and MB3 wouldn't be playing this game either. Looks like JJ and Thompson will get the majority of the carries and alot of Fasano and Curtis at TE. Crayton may see a quarter or two at the most.

by Cowboys81 on Dec 26, 2007 10:17 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I wanted to repost this

from my comment in Terry's Diary, in response to the idea that maybe TGlenn should not play the second half.

I think the criteria for how much people play should be "how to be best prepared for the playoffs" ... this is VERY different than "let's avoid injuries" ... under the best prepared idea, guys nursing injuries would sit, but a guy like TG could use all the time he can get. It can only help him. Is there a risk of injury? Sure, this is the NFL. Only for perhaps Romo will the injury issue come into play, I would imagine he is pulled early. Same for DWare, Witten, Ellis, Henry, maybe a couple of the OLine guys.

For most of the offense and everyone else that is healthy, I expect to see them play.

Cowboys and Tar Heels

by DalaiLuke on Dec 26, 2007 10:20 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I agree

about Glenn - let him play the entire game if he's able to.

by Pete on Dec 27, 2007 9:50 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

only because he is not in game shape, making him more vulnerable to injury than another player he's been running all season. He needs some work, and then he needs to park the cleats.

I think Phillips sees it the same way when he muses that Glenn wouldn't play if the weather or field conditions are bad.

by dunkman on Dec 27, 2007 5:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Agree

He won't play too much, just get his reps in with Romo. The last thing Cowboy's fans wants to see is a pulled hammy.

by APerfectStar on Dec 27, 2007 7:38 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

this game should be treated like

the 3rd preseason game, meaning you play your healthy starters for about 3 qtrs and then put in your subs the rest of the way.

I say that because you want to accomplish 2 goals from this game. The first is you obviously want to avoid injuries and be healthy for the playoffs, however, at the same time, your other goal is to make sure the team doesn't get rusty so you want your starters getting at least half of the live game reps.

So IMO, Romo and Glenn should play at least a half, maybe a series or 2 of the 3rd and MB3 probably should be limited to only 10 carries.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Dec 27, 2007 7:17 AM CST reply actions 0 recs