There's no question about it, the Cowboys are going to be walking into their Week 3 matchup against the Washington Redskins with a collective limp. In an attempt to give their litany of injured players a chance to rejuvinate themselves, head coach Jason Garrett has given the team two consecutive days of rest, today and tomorrow, in anticipation of the Monday night tilt.
Tony Romo's rib and punctured/collapsed lung is the most obvious of the injuries, but he is far from the only one. The list of walking wounded reads like a game-opening line-up review by television broadcasters. Romo is questionable with a lung and cracked rib. His BFF suffered sympathy pains, but Jason Witten will play despite his bruised ribs. Felix Jones is expected to tough it out with a dislocated shoulder. Center Phil Costa is suffering with an aggravated PCL injury and is up in the air. Left guard Bill Nagy missed the game with a neck injury, although it appeared that Derrick Dockery was going to start anyway (the team could not have been impressed with Dockery's complete disregard for run blocking technique however).
Receiver #1A Dez Bryant missed the game with a deep thigh bruise, and admitted he'll need to have rehab work before rejoining the team. WR1 Miles Austin aggravated his hamstring pull from the preseason and after going ballistic against the Niners secondary appears doubtful for Monday nights game.Third wide receiver Kevin Ogletree appeared to tweak his ankle.
And that's just the offense. Oh boy.
On defense, Orlando Scandrick appears to still be at least one game away, and is probably out until after the Week Five bye. The one bit of good news is Terence Newman's tweet that he will definitely play against the resurgent Redskins. Newly incorporated CB Frank Walker acquitted himself rather well on Sunday, and there is now hope that Cowboys opponents won't be able to just target Alan Ball on third down, as SF did at least four or five times.
With all these injuries, the Cowboys are simply trying to tread water until they have their full compliment of troops. Two of the leagues bigger surprises, Washington and Detroit are coming to town over the next two weeks, and neither figures to give Dallas a break, other than a player's limb here or there.