Two-By-Four As Starters Return, Backup Line Get Reps Too

IRVING, Texas - In just the nick of time, it would seem, starting offensive linemen Marc Colombo and Kyle Kosher returned to practice on Wednesday, each back from rehabbing knee injuries.
Practice is not the game, of course. While players who return to the field at Valley Ranch are typically cleared to participate in game situations, the Cowboys will have to monitor how their first-tamers respond over the next three days before making an official ruling on their status for football jersey
the weekend.
With that in mind, offensive line coach Hudson Houck admits the team will have to get four linemen ready to play two spots. Montréal Holland got first-team reps again at left guard on Wednesday, and, with Sunday's final play hardly forgotten, Alex Barron took some starting snaps at right tackle.
Both Colombo and Kosher were listed as having full participation, however.
"We'll see how sore they are, and if they're inhibited from playing or practicing, we'll know that," Wade Phillips said. "So we'll just have to wait and see. We brought those guys back and they practiced, but they didn't practice every snap. But they don't practice every snap when they're working with the first team; we work the other guys so we can have them ready too.
"They're two experienced players that have played a lot for us. And that's valuable, although we have confidence in our backups players too, and some of them played pretty well."
Coming out of Sunday's loss at Washington, the general consensus is Holland performed well at left guard, and Barron held his own except for a handful of plays, some of which just happened to be the most significant in the game. Since Barron is still going to be in the team's contingency plans, coaches have to find a way to eliminate the weaknesses that led to him committing three holding penalties, including the one that negated a game-winning touchdown pass.
Houck, who's aimed to give the former St. Louis Rams first-round pick a fresh start, said Barron's issues could be caused by reverting to bad habits developed over five seasons as the league's most penalized player.
"We've identified the issue," Houck said. "And we know how to correct it, so that's the direction we're going. I haven't lost any faith in him. It's all technique. It's not athletic ability, it's not want-to, and it’s not preparation. Some of the issues on how he sets and what he does, we'll address. We've got the answer; we've just got Dallas Cowboys jersey
to now get it where it's a habit."
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Barron also vowed to correct his mistakes. As the backup to two positions his improvement is important. What's even more critical is for the Cowboys to get better production from their starter, presumably a now-healthy Colombo. A tough, smart guy viewed as a leader on the offensive line, Colombo played well enough in 2008 to earn himself a rather lucrative four-year contract extension.
He kept up the strong play into 2009, but suffered a broken fibula and high ankle sprain in the ninth game of the year. He worked hard to come back in time for the playoffs, and performed well in the wild card win against Philadelphia. He gave up three sacks the next week in Minnesota, however, and this summer Phillips admitted he felt it was too soon to bring him back. Despite months to heal last season's injuries, Colombo still wasn't at his best in the preseason.
On Aug. 15, early in the Oxnard, Calif. portion of training camp, he had to come out of practice early, and required surgery to clean up loose particles in his knee. According to someone with knowledge of the injury, Colombo had a feeling something was wrong with his knee during camp, but after hearing criticism all off-season, wanted to get in as many practice reps as possible.
"All these loose bodies he had in his knee, he's had in there for quite a while," Houck said. "So it's been bothering him. Now it's cleaned out there, and the only thing bothering him is the incision. As far as that's sealed up, we're ready to go. … The guy is as mentally tough as any guy I've ever been around, so he will play hard. If he's not playing well he'll know it and we'll talk about it. But I anticipate that he'll be better than ever."
With Kosher also returning to practice from the MCL he sprained just three days after Colombo went down, the Cowboys had all five of their starters together for the first time in a month. Houck said he'll know by Friday if they're ready to go.
"I think if the quickness is there, the readjusting to movement, lack of Chargers jersey
swelling, all those types of things, I anticipate that the mental part of it will be very easy for them," Houck said. "They'll be tough. They won't be afraid to move because of the injury - they've both had injuries before, so they know how you come back from them. Many times you're a little cautious if it's your first injury."