More photos » David J. Phillip - AP

Brett Favre will not play when the Vikings host the Cowboys in the final preseason game Friday night. Aside from perhaps a series or two, both teams will hold out most of their starters.

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OLB Brandon Williams (knee) is on injured reserve. SS Michael Hamlin (wrist) and ILB Jason Williams (high ankle sprain) are expected to miss 4-6 weeks. The draft class that was supposed supply key backups and special teamers has thinned out in a major way. Now, Coach Phillips sounds concerned about ILB Stephen Hodge's knee. Josh Ellis says that IR may be an option for the rookie.

"If he's hurt," Phillips said. "It depends on what our doctors and our trainers think as far as what his prognosis is, and I just don't get a good - They thoughit it was good, but it doesn't look good right now. So we may have to reevaluate."

Placing Hodge on IR with the final round of cuts Saturday would protect his rights. The Cowboys have a few other options for their last middle linebacker spot in Matt Stewart and Tearrius George.

Here is the updated list of the Cowboys' walking wounded.

More VRR after the jump.

This guy has answered the ad. Colts fans call him CuJo. We might as well call him a Dallas Cowboy. DC.com makes the case for why OLB Curtis Johnson will be on the 53-man roster.

[O]utside linebacker Curtis Johnson, a converted defensive end who was claimed off waivers from the Colts, likely won't be included when the final roster cuts on Saturday are trimmed down to 53 players.

[snip]

"There was a reason for picking him up," said head coach Wade Phillips, who admitted Johnson has been more impressive now than when they evaluated him coming out of Clark-Atlanta University last year. "We knew about him coming out of college. We had him as a projection linebacker. He's actually gained some weight. He weighed in at 254, so he's a pretty good-sized guy. He knows how to play full speed and he knows how to play all out, which was impressive. We thought it was an opportunity to get a guy that's a pretty good athlete that can maybe play."

Coach Phillips has yet to turn his defense loose this preseason. Bradie James and Keith Brooking are anticipating what the defensive guru has in store for the regular season.

"I'm looking forward to when we really get into the fire to see what Wade will call," James said. "Everybody's asking, ‘What do you think Wade will do? Is he complex? Is he this? Is he that?' Personally, I can't tell you. I won't know until we start playing games."

This much is certain: The emphasis will continue to be on creating turnovers right up to kickoff.

"It's not for lack of talking about it (creating turnovers), thinking about it, communicating that to one another, being very conscious about it," linebacker Keith Brooking said when asked about the preseason turnover drought. "When you have that going through your defense, it makes a big difference."

Favre vs. Romo? Not likely. Minnesota Vikings coach, Brad Childress, said his starters will not play in Friday night's final preseason game against the Cowboys.

Asked if he's seen enough of Brett Favre, Childress said, "I think we'll get enough work out here (Thursday). "We'll do a couple things with our starting group. Through the week next week, we'll be OK. I just don't see the upside of doing that any further. I thought he made a nice jump from week one to week two, showed he's got a good understanding of what we're doing."

Even though Favre has again returned to the NFL, Romo thinks the 39-year-old gun slinger can still play at a high level.

"Shoot, history tells us plenty of people have done it," Romo said. "Everybody remembers your (best) moments. Is Michael Jordan not Michael Jordan because of Washington? He came back, he was still a good player, very productive, but you hold such a standard - can you ever reach the level you were at in your prime? I don't know. That's why they all come back, to try and do that."

The Minneapolis StarTribune reports that the Vikings are trying to trade QB Tarvaris Jackson.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will open up the season against the Cowboys with a new offensive coordinator. Very new. The team just fired Jeff Jagodzinski.

The team announced the move in a statement Thursday morning and also said quarterbacks coach Greg Olson will take over as coordinator. There was no reason given for Jagodzinski's firing, but coach Raheem Morris is scheduled to discuss the situation later in the day.

Oklahoma will play the first regular season football game in Cowboys Stadium when the Sooners take on BYU this Saturday.

At a worth of $1.65 billion, the Dallas Cowboys are easily the most valuable team in the NFL. The franchise is second only to England's Manchester United for being Forbes' most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Hat tip to One.Cool.Customer for the FanShot.