Things are starting to get serious for the Ravens game, if players are going to get healthy and participate in the Sunday matchup, they need some practice time over the next few days. The early reports are in from the media-attended part of practice on Wednesday.
Anthony Spencer wasn't on the field for the early part of practice, even though he went through a limited practice on Monday. We'll have to wait until the official injury report comes out to see if he joined practice later. Spencer not playing on Sunday is an issue, especially with Ray Rice coming up. Spencer is strong against the run, but his replacement Victor Butler was exploited on occasions by the Bears in the running game.
Joining Spencer among the non-participating starters in the open-to-the-media part of practice was center Ryan Cook. He's battling a hamstring issue, so if there was a thought of moving him over to guard in place of Mackenzy Bernadeau, it might not be happening this week. The reason the Cowboys can contemplate shifting Cook over is because Phil Costa is back and looks to be resuming as the starting center. Costa was dressed for practice today. As for Cook, Jason Garrett says: "I think he’s progressing. We’ll evaluate him as the week goes on."
Kevin Ogletree also has a hamstring issue and was working on the side along with other hamstring casualties, DeMarcus Ware and Miles Austin. Ware and Austin have had no problems playing with their slight injuries. We'll see what happens with Ogletree this week.
Back on defense were Jay Ratliff and Kenyon Coleman. Missing from practice were both punters, Chris Jones and Brian Moorman.