The Sports Xchange

IRVING, Texas — Like all other NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys have one preseason game left.

But for all practical purposes they are focused and ready for the Sept. 13 season opener against the New York Giants.

More importantly, quarterback Tony Romo is healthy and ready to go. He showed as much in the third preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, going 5-of-8 passing for 88 yards and two touchdowns with a 139.6 passer rating.

But more importantly, he showed as much throughout training camp while being as healthy and as strong as he has been in three years.

Owner Jerry Jones said Romo is playing the best football of his career and ready to build on what was a career best season in 2014.

Romo is certainly ahead of where he was at this time last season when he was on a practice and pitch count after offseason back surgery. He said he feels better physically and understands how to manage his back better.

“I have talked about that plenty of times about how obviously I am able to drive the ball and push and explode when I’m trying to move,” Romo said. “That’s a great sign, compared to last year.”

Romo opened last season a little rusty. But it eventually wore off en route to a near MVP season with 31 touchdowns and only nine interceptions, while leading the league completion percentage and quarterback rating.

There will be no rust going into this season after what was a full offseason and training camp for the first time in three years.

“The fact that he’s been able to practice and get some game time … the speed of the game is definitely different than the practice time,” quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said.

“So the fact that he’s playing in some preseason games and getting some game-speed action prior to the opener is going to be a big benefit for him.”

No more evidence of Romo’s zip was need than the two touchdown passes against the Vikings.

The first one was a dart to Terrance Williams on a deep in. It was a perfect pass that Williams caught in stride and took it to the house.

The second one was an 8-yard touchdown pass to Lucky Whitehead that came after he used his patented 360-degree spin move to buy time in the pocket before zipping the ball into the end zone.

It was Romo being Romo.

“He has the ability to feel pressure in the pocket, spin around and still have his wits about him,” Wilson said. “A lot of time if you pirouette out like that, you lose vision of the defense and where your guys are, but he’s done it his whole career.

“He looked sharp. He really sat in there, made some nice plays.”

–Linebacker Rolando McClain was taken off the physically unable to perform list and practiced with Cowboys on a limited basis Monday. McClain had been on the PUP list since the start of training camp because of offseason knee surgery.

McClain got some work with the first team defense in the walk- through portion of practice but was limited mainly to individual drills.

McClain will miss the first four games of the season serving an NFL suspension for violating the substance abuse policy

The Cowboys considered leaving McClain on PUP list to start of the season, causing him to miss the first six weeks.

Considering the Cowboys have a bye following their fifth game against the New England Patriots, it would have meant that McClain would have only missed one more game.

His suspension would have run concurrently with the PUP designation.

But McClain will be back on the field for Oct. 11 game against the New England Patriots rather than the Oct. 25 game at the New York Giants.

–The Cowboys could still add running back to the mix but they are not interested in former Bills starter Fred Jackson.

The nine-year veteran was cut by the Buffalo Bills on Monday.

Jackson is 34 years old, which takes him out of the mix for a Cowboys team that is focused on youth at every position, but especially running back.

The lack of interest in Jackson, however, doesn’t mean the Cowboys are set at running back with Darren McFadden, Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar.

The Cowboys like their backs and feel good about McFadden, who showed some burst with four carries for 37 yards against the Vikings last Saturday.

But vice president Stephen Jones said the team will keep an eye out for a young running back to add to the mix as cuts are announced over the next week.

“If we saw a young running back to add to the mix, we’d certainly look at it,” Jones said.

NOTES: Wide receiver Dez Bryant (hamstring) was expected to return to practice last week and play in the third preseason game against the Vikings. But the Cowboys erred on the side of caution. Maybe the sight of Scandrick going down caused them to be extra careful with Bryant. … Wide receiver Cole Beasley tried to resist the comparisons to Wes Welker his entire career. Instead, Beasley only added to it with status as the team’s primary punt returner in 2015. That was a Welker staple. … Cornerback Orlando Scandrick was lost for the season because of a major knee injury during the final week of training camp. It was a huge setback for Scandrick and the Cowboys as he was the team’s best cornerback. … Linebacker Sean Lee took the first step toward returning from a knee injury that sidelined him all of last season when he took 17 snaps against the Vikings in what was his first live football action in more than a year. … Defensive end Randy Gregory continues to be the most impressive performer of the preseason. He had his third sack in as many preseason games. He also had a quarterback pressure and a sack taken away because of a defensive holding penalty.