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The Florida Tuskers and New York Sentinels squared off with each other in their first scrimmage of the season Thursday night at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

However, the teams were not at full strength thanks to injuries to some key players. Tuskers safety Dexter Jackson, a former Super Bowl MVP with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, sat out with a shoulder stinger. Former NFL standouts Simeon Rice and Koren Robinson of the Sentinels also did not participate for undisclosed reasons.

During the scrimmage, Tuskers offensive lineman Julius Wilson injured his foot/ankle, though the severity of the injury is unclear as the team awaits test results.

The Florida Tuskers signed quarterback Brooks Bollinger on Tuesday and, one day later, released quarterback Craig Nall, the Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday.

A representative from the league did not immediately return a request for confirmation.

The signing of Bollinger leaves Orlando with a logjam under center. The Tuskers also employ signal-callers Darrell Hackney and Chris Greisen.

A year ago, the Cowboys used their two first-round picks on running back Felix Jones and cornerback Mike Jenkins. Neither contributed much as a rookie; Jenkins played in 14 games (starting three) and had 19 tackles, but the one he didn't make sticks out most in my mind (of course it does).

Jones, who was something of a surprise pick with Rashard Mendenhall still available, played in just six games before landing on injured reserve with a big toe and hamstring injury.

We're a month into the Broncos-Cutler standoff, and here's what we know: Jay Cutler is a sensitive sort, and new head coach Josh McDaniels might be in over his head, at least when it comes to dealing with moody Pro Bowl quarterbacks. Yet through it all, public opinion seems to be firmly behind the organization.

I have no idea how this turns out, and at this point, I don't care; I just want it to end so we can get back to the important stuff: Terrell Owens, Michael Vick and Brett Favre's impending return to the sport he loves so much. But before moving on, I just want to point out that Jeff George, perpetually on the comeback trail, has weighed in on the situation and, shockingly, supports Cutler:

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

You could use just about every adjective for "crazy" to describe the '08 Dallas Cowboys. At the beginning of the year, they were expected to produce, but never did. Quarterback Tony Romo struggled with injury issues and the ability to step up in big games. They still had a chance to advance to the playoffs but couldn't take down Donovan McNabb and company in the last week of the season. Oh, and Adam "Pacman" Jones and Terrell Owens were as psycho as ever. A lot needs to change in Dallas during the offseason to make the Cowboys a contender in their new stadium.

Even though the Dallas seems to have survived a forgettable month of Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger and are now back in the playoff race, former Cowboys running back and ESPN wordsmith Emmitt Smith is still disappointed in the team that won 13 games last year.

"Mediocre." ... "[I'm] disappointed because I saw this team being a lot better than it is," Smith said. "Chemistry has a lot to do with it. And for some reason, the chemistry of the Cowboys this year has been thrown off a little bit.

"Either there's too much salt in the gumbo or not enough meat in the gumbo. Something's wrong. Whatever it is, they need to get it corrected. It's just been a blah kind of season for me."

Bottom line: there's something wrong with the gumbo. Smith is right, though, chemistry has been an issue; according to an unnamed PFW.com source, "a faction of the players that feels that Pacman Jones' presence could throw off the chemistry and positive swagger that the Cowboys have worked hard to regain."

Smith also points out that Dallas beating San Francisco and Seattle -- two teams they were supposed to beat -- is hardly reason to assume they've fixed the midseason problems. In fact, it sounds like he's still hung up on how a promising 2007 campaign ended so abruptly.

Obviously, Tony Romo has a lot to do with the Cowboys' success, but he can't do it alone. Sure, it seems that way, but there aren't many teams who could survive the dynamic duo of Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger, no matter how healthy the other 51 guys on the roster.

So it's with that in mind that this must come as a relief to the team still angling for a wild card birth: DeMarcus Ware and Marion Barber didn't sustain serious injuries in Dallas' Thanksgiving Day throttling of the Seattle Seahawks.

The Cowboys received some good news Friday morning when the results of the MRI exams of linebacker DeMarcus Ware and running back Marion Barber did not reveal any structural damage.

Ware left Thursday's game with a hyperextended left knee in the third quarter. ... Barber departed Thursday's game with a dislocated little toe on his right foot.

Ware says he expects to play next Sunday against the Steelers and Barber, as he has done his entire career, said nothing. Because he doesn't talk to the media (despite Troy Aikman's protestations).

Everybody agrees that, in the immortal words of Joe Buck describing Randy Moss fake-mooning the Lambeau Field crowd, Michael Vick committed a disgusting act. On Tuesday, the convicted puppy murderer plead guilty to Virginia dogfighting charges (he was sentenced to a suspended term), and he's currently serving time in federal prison.

Vick won't be there forever, though; the former Falcon first-round pick will be released in 2009 with the hopes of resuming his NFL career. Ultimately, that decision lies with commissioner Roger Goodell, who has a history of giving players second, third, and fourth chances.

Via ESPN's John Clayton:

If you were one of the hundreds of football fans who have NFL Network, and you weren't distracted by Deion Sanders' homage to the '80s, you probably saw and comprehended his Thursday night interview with Terrell Owens during halftime of the Bengals-Steelers game.

As far as T.O. woe-is-me sessions go, this was pretty tame, and in fact, the most inflammatory thing to come from the one-on-one -- other than Mr. Prime's ensemble -- was this relatively innocuous quote: "For me to have the numbers that I have and not really being involved it is discouraging," Owens said. "It is frustrating, but what can I do?"

Yesterday, however, the Dallas Morning News' Calvin Watkins wrote that Owens "wasn't backing down" from his NFL Network comments "in which he said his offensive numbers are not to his liking because of the Cowboys' system."

Again, hardly scandalous. Watkins explains:

There were some grumblings that Cowboys receiver Roy Williams wasn't all that jazzed with his role as sideline observer. At least when he was in Detroit, he got to play as the Lions bumbled their way to demoralizing loss after demoralizing loss.

But that's all changing. According to the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon, Williams is officially the team's No. 2 receiver after Terrell Owens. Patrick Crayton, the guy Williams is replacing, in true "there's no 'I' in team" fashion, is cool with the move.

"That's the business," Crayton said of Williams replacing him in the starting lineup. "You pay a guy a lot of money, you've got to play him, or else people are going to be asking why you gave him all that money and aren't playing him. Hopefully, he does give us an opportunity to win some games. That's what we need to do right now."

Good points, all of them. Jerry Jones gave Williams a five-year, $35 million extension shortly after bringing him to Dallas, and unless you're Al Davis, those guys eventually have to start. If nothing else, the news, along with Tony Romo returning to the lineup after a month off, is a morale boost for a team that could desperately use it.

Plus, maybe it'll distract Terrell Owens from recent bad news, courtesy of accomplished author John Elway.