The Dallas Cowboys are trying to work their way to good health for Week 1 and “Sunday Night Football” on the big stage for their season-opener at the New York Giants. Or ...
Maybe a better way to say it, as there are injury concerns with contributors Tyler Smith, Donovan Wilson and Sam Williams - is that Dallas is trying to nurse its way through the week.
"Both are in a similar category,'' coach Mike McCarthy said on Wednesday when asked about Smith and Wilson. "They'll work with (trainer) Britt (Brown) today ... and the goal will be to get them in practice by the end of the week."''
In other words, Smith and Wilson will not be practicing on Wednesday. McCarthy later added that the same goes for Williams.
McCarthy said part of the medical consideration in "the excellent system in place'' is that Smith, the starting left guard as the team's first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, has never before dealt with a hamstring issue, which is what is nagging him this week.
In the case of Wilson, he hasn't worked fully since the first day of training camp, when he injured a calf. Dallas defensive end Williams, the team's second-round pick in 2022, has missed a week of practice work with a toe injury.
Dallas does have depth at safety, which in theory eases the anxiety about Wilson. And Williams is a rotational backup pass-rusher in a group led by Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. But Smith? Without him the Cowboys might have to lean on fifth-round rookie Asim Richards to be among the candidates to play in place of Smith.
“We felt better after we visited and assessed it after practice,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a Tuesday morning visit on 105.3 The Fan. “Hopefully it’s not serious enough to impact him (Sunday night).”
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