FRISCO -- Leading up to the Monday Night Football game against Tennessee, the Cowboys offensive line became reacquainted with "Big Bertha."

She's the 350-pound blocking dummy that hangs on the far end of the practice fields at The Star.

As Marc Colombo, the newly promoted offensive line coach, works to transition the once vaunted unit back to the ways of the recent, more successful past, he returned to a drill that had been a staple in Dallas.

Paul Alexander, the NFL coaching veteran who was fired a week ago Monday after just seven games with the Cowboys, preferred other methods.

Colombo could see the players respond in practice Friday when they were asked to take on Big Bertha in an exercise that helps them prepare for bull rushes by defensive linemen.

"That was kind of my goal," Colombo said, "just reinvigorate this group."

It's just one example that illustrates the style and fit Dallas brings back with Colombo and Hudson Houck, the former longtime O-line coach who the team rehired last week as a consultant.

Colombo, who played tackle for Dallas from 2005-2010 before he transitioned to coaching, was the lead singer in a heavy metal band called "Free Reign" during his playing days. In contrast, Alexander is a pianist and wrote a book entitled "Perform."

The Cowboys want to return to an aggressive approach over the more calculated style of Alexander. Dallas has allowed 23 sacks in seven games, along with 46 quarterback hits. While the Cowboys rank No. 4 in the league in rushing yards per game, Colombo says the line hasn't blocked well.

"I just think we have to get back to who we are and what we do," Colombo said, "and obviously I'm a part of that, too. ...I'm a more of an old-school guy in the sense that we're going to work, we're going to grind, all right. Every day. We're going to be out there working every single technique, every drill. We're going to bring violence, some nasty to the game.

"The guys have done that somewhat but we've got to get back to our roots."

The players and team officials emphasized that Alexander is not the only one to blame for the inconsistency of the play up front this season. Yet the unit is expected to be the strength the team is built around. That doesn't change even with All-Pro center Travis Frederick on injured reserve as he recovers from an autoimmune disorder and as rookie Connor Williams, a tackle in college, finds his way as the starter at left guard.

Colombo, 40, is finding a balance between returning to familiar techniques from years past while not completely erasing what the team has been doing under Alexander. Alexander is known for a high-hand, low-inside hand technique that emphasized linemen becoming a stabber/striker over a puncher, which some of the players didn't want to "mess with," Alexander said recently.

Colombo played under Houck and learned from former Cowboys line coaches Bill Callahan and Frank Pollack, who Dallas let go after last season.

"Paul was a great coach in the NFL for a long time -- his style's a little different than mine," Colombo said, "but we're going to try to pick up where we left off the past few years."

Right tackle La'el Collins said Colombo's approach gives the Cowboys options and the ability to change things up.

The players say they respond to Colombo's energy -- even quarterback Dak Prescott said he's one of his favorite people in the organization.

"He connects with us well," All-Pro right guard Zack Martin said. "He still has the passion of a player, especially on game day you can see him getting geeked up like he's about to go play. That energy is contagious."

Team owner Jerry Jones said Dallas considered promoting Colombo in the offseason, when it hired Alexander instead. He expects change to be visible quickly.

"There is...the mental addressing it that I think is positive, one," Jones said. "And then No. 2, I think Colombo is going to really excel here."

The Cowboys also felt good about the change because Houck, who had two previous tenures with the Cowboys and coached the likes of Hall of Famer Larry Allen, was willing to return. At 75, he plays a lot of golf, head coach Jason Garrett said, but he also stayed closely involved with the game, working with linemen as they prepared for the NFL draft.

It was Houck who helped start Dallas' offensive line renaissance, urging the team to draft left tackle Tyron Smith with the No. 9 pick of the 2011 draft. There is hope his return will benefit Smith, who has struggled at times this season, particularly noticeable because the All-Pro has been so dominant in his career.

"Hud knows me better than anybody," Smith said.

Garrett says Houck has had a lasting influence on him and the two had been in regular communication since Houck retired after the 2011 season.

Garrett always wanted Colombo to get into coaching after he retired a Cowboy following playing the 2011 season for Miami, but Garrett knew it would be awhile

"We said, 'hey, you can go be an actor for a bit, you can go be in a rock band for a little bit, but eventually we want to get you back here,'" Garrett said. "For a couple years he was doing those things. He realized it's a tough big world out there, it's competitive. So he came back. I think this is where he needs to be."

Colombo spent 2014 as an assistant with the personnel department. He joined the coaching staff in 2015 and became the assistant offensive line coach in 2016.

Starting against the Titans, Colombo will move from spending games upstairs to coaching on the sideline.

"It's going to get a little quieter in the booth," offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. "I'm excited for Marc. ...He's got tons of credibility with those guys. He doesn't ease in... he's hard on them in a positive way. That all transpires into a good fit."

That showed in the past few days, from again battling Big Bertha to returning to a more familiar overall approach.

But now it will have to become evident on the field over the final nine games. Tennessee's defensive line poses an immediate challenge as it uses a lot of twists that force an offensive line to adjust quickly.

"They want to do well, I want them to do well," Colombo said. "We know it wasn't right, so we need to get it right together."