IRVING, Texas -- For the first time this season, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Anthony Spencer went through every day of practice leading into a game.

Spencer had been sitting out the “Friday” practices that are typically red-zone and short-yardage days to give his surgically repaired knee a day of rest. Spencer missed all but one game last season and all of training camp this summer as he recovered from microfracture surgery.

He is still looking for his first sack after four games but has been credited with eight tackles and four quarterback pressures.

He is listed as probable for Monday’s game against the Washington Redskins.

“We just believe in practice,” coach Jason Garrett said. “It’s important for guys to get back to practice. You’re obviously trying to get them to be ready for Sunday, and there’s a lot of different ways to do that, but the base way to do that is to make sure they practice as much as they can. We have different guys with different injuries that you have to monitor and work out what the best schedule is, but for the most part we want guys out there practicing regardless of how much you played and we want to make sure we do that with Spence this week.”

Right tackle Doug Free will miss his second straight game with a small fracture in his right foot. The initial diagnosis was that Free would need 3-4 weeks to recover from the injury suffered late in the win against the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago.

“We’ll see how he is next week when we start off on Wednesday and we’ll go from there,” Garrett said. “Initially it was a three- or four-week type thing. He traditionally heals fast. He’s a tough guy, and we feel like he’s coming back relatively well. We’ll just see how he does next week when we start practicing again.”

Linebacker Bruce Carter, who has missed the last three games with a quadriceps injury, is probable for Monday night, as are: quarterback Tony Romo (back), tackle Jermey Parnell (chest), wide receiver Dez Bryant (shoulder) and safety Jakar Hamilton. Defensive end Jack Crawford will miss his third straight game with a calf injury.