Tony Romo threw a short pass and took off running Wednesday, doing the half-speed drill that starts most practices for the Dallas Cowboys. After that, the sore-thumbed Pro Bowl quarterback also did everything else he'd usually do in practice except take direct snaps. The NFC East champion Cowboys (12-2) expect Romo to start Saturday night at Carolina. "He seemed to get better and better as the practice went along as far as his thumb and throwing the football," Coach Wade Phillips said. "It looks like he's going to play to me." Phillips had anticipated Romo sitting out portions of practice, but Romo didn't have any problem gripping the ball and exceeded expectations. Backup quarterback Brad Johnson didn't get any more snaps than he'd usually get. "I thought maybe we would hold him out of some of the things if he couldn't throw all the passes," Phillips said. "But he threw long passes; he threw outs; he threw comebacks; he threw short passes. He's still a little bit sore, basically on the follow-through with his thumb." Romo will likely have a different center Saturday. Andre Gurode, selected this week as the Pro Bowl starter, isn't expected to play because of a damaged left knee that was heavily wrapped while he watched practice Wednesday.