OXNARD, Calif. -- Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott was unable to finish Tuesday's practice because of a sore right hamstring.
Elliott had his right leg stretched during a break in practice and was held out of the final portion of team drills. Wednesday's off day might come at a good time just to give him some extra rest. He will have it examined further in the morning.
With Elliott watching from the side, Alfred Morris took the first-team snaps for the final four plays.
The Cowboys have just three tailbacks eligible to practice with Darren McFadden (elbow) and Lance Dunbar (knee) on the non-football injury and physically unable to perform lists.
After going without a completion on Monday, Tony Romo and Dez Bryant didn't take long to get together Tuesday. On the second play of the second team period, Romo hit Bryant down the seam on a play-action pass. Their first attempt in team drills was defended by Morris Claiborne and in 7-on-7 work Romo was long on a deep ball in which Byron Jones showed terrific range. Later Romo found Bryant out of the slot for their second completion. They missed on a throw in team drills with Romo's pass a little more inside than what Bryant was expecting.
On Monday, J.J. Wilcox had the biggest hit of the day when he took out cornerback Josh Thomas. On Tuesday, the biggest collision was when safety Barry Church and cornerback Brandon Carr got together on a Romo throw to Bryant. Both were slow to get up but they were fine after practice.
Seeing left tackle Tyron Smith operate in space can be an impressive thing. On a sweep by receiver Lucky Whitehead, Smith locked on Jones and was able to push him out of the way with ease so Whitehead could gain a few more yards.
It was tough to see from my angle but fullback Rod Smith must have done something right on a cutback run by Morris in the play-action period based on the reaction of running backs coach Gary Brown. Smith is making the transition from tailback to fullback.
QB Jameill Showers had a long touchdown throw to receiver Rodney Smith near the end of the "blue" practice for the younger players. Smith was able to out-leap Dax Swanson for the reception and sprint to the end zone for a score.
With defensive tackle Terrell McClain sitting out, Lawrence Okoye got more work on the interior and was able to show some strength. The Cowboys had only three healthy defensive tackles at practice. Stephen Jones said the Cowboys would bring in some players for workouts.
Like cornerback Orlando Scandrick, tight end Gavin Escobar (Achilles) is working into practice slowly and doing only 7-on-7 work. He has not taken individual or team snaps in the first two days.
Running back Darren McFadden is unable to fully extend his healing right elbow as he runs off to the side in conditioning.
