Last season, the Cowboys began 0-2 mainly because their Pro Bowl running back, Emmitt Smith, was holding out.

A three-time Pro Bowl running back, Barber plans to retire after 10 seasons in the NFL.

But it was hard to tell which was odder, the way Smith looked or the reaction of the dozens of people around the Pro Bowl running back.

Barber is a Pro Bowl running back, Peterson said, while also noting that Barber fumbled repeatedly last week.

Corey Dillon, a three-time Pro Bowl running back, has hinted at retirement if major improvements do not come immediately.

So what's a team to do when it bases its offense on the running game and its Pro Bowl running back is laid up?

"On this sweep," one of the coaches will say to a Pro Bowl running back, "you're the blocker."

Chances are, a Pro Bowl running back hasn't been assigned to throw a serious block since he was a sophomore in high school, if then.

That's when all those Pro Bowl running backs wish that a blocking back was on the squad.

The other is the Pro Bowl running back, Rodney Hampton, who several people close to the situation said may be eating himself out of shape.