Romo may play despite broken finger

IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who wants to play despite a broken pinkie on his throwing hand, practiced and threw passes to receivers Thursday.

Coach Wade Phillips didn't rule out the possibility of Romo playing Sunday at St. Louis even though he said the quarterback was limited in practice Thursday and that Brad Johnson took most of the snaps.

"He threw the ball pretty well," Phillips said. "Just throwing the ball isn't all they do. ... There's some other factors that we'll see as we go along here. We still have a couple of more days."

Romo, with a protective splint on his heavily wrapped hand, threw lightly to all receivers during the early portion of practice that was open to reporters. Johnson, the 40-year-old backup whose last start was in 2006 for Minnesota, was working with the starters during drills.

Romo never handed off to running backs during the two-hour practice.

Phillips said he would probably know after practice today "what direction we want to go" as far as Romo playing. But he wasn't planning to make any announcement.

"I won't wait until Sunday [to decide]," Phillips said. "I'm not telling anybody."

Romo was hurt on the first play of overtime in Sunday's 30-24 loss at Arizona. After the broken finger was diagnosed, Phillips said Romo was out and that Johnson would take over Sunday at St. Louis. It was thought then that Romo could be out up to a month.

But Romo, after getting a phone call from New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre, told coaches Wednesday he would like to play. Romo didn't practice then, but threw on the side, including some passes to Jones and tight end Jason Witten.

"Yeah, he threw me several balls, knocking them in there very good," Jones said.

Romo hasn't spoken in the locker room this week, and escaped quickly without answering questions the one time he was seen while reporters were present.