The bad news emanating from Valley Ranch is that Dez Bryant is not participating in Friday's practice.

Bryant -- the last Cowboys player to get onto the practice field at Valley Ranch -- was wearing a tank top and was carrying his shoes. After putting them on and tying his shoes, coach Jason Garrett -- who was hopeful Bryant would practice Friday -- summoned him over for a brief chat.

Bryant went back into the locker room and returned wearing a white, long-sleeved Cowboys shirt.

This puts his status very much in doubt, and we could see a Cowboys team without Dez or Miles Austin on Sunday. Not the best position to be in for Dallas, especially with the confusion among the other receivers on Monday night against Washington.

Tony Romo has said that the problems with lining-up and route-running on Monday will not occur again. Let's hope so, but if the team is without the threat of Dez, someone is going to have to step up. I'll nominate Laurent Robinson. Of course, Jason Witten and Felix Jones could help with the problem, but you'd like to have at least one wide receiver threat on the field.

Also, fullback Tony Fiametta didn't practice again today. He showed some promise blocking out of the backfield last week. I was looking forward to seeing if he could repeat it this week. It looks like we may not find out.