The Cowboys are home for a midweek preseason special against the Oakland Raiders Thursday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
While preseason games are generally meaningless, they have so far proven costly for the Cowboys, as TE John Phillips will be out for the season after tearing his ACL in the preseason opener Sunday night against the Bengals. Phillips was looking at an increased role as a bit of a Jason Witten starter kit, with his ability to catch and block from the line and in the backfield. Now those duties will go to Martellus Bennett, assuming he can get over his ankle injury.
This team has been snakebitten by injuries so far during training camp. Maybe its the injury-free karma they developed over the past few seasons catching with them, but the string of injuries suffered is staggering:
John Phillips: torn ACL
Dez Bryant: high ankle sprain
Marcus Spears: sprained MCL
Alex Barron: dislocated pinky, sprained ankle
Martellus Bennett: sprained ankle
Akwasi Owusu-Ansah: shoulder/hamstring
Scott Sicko: concussion
Cletus Gordon: strained neck
Bryan McCann: concussion
Sean Lee: quad strain
Pat Watkins: knee
Montrae Holland: stained hamstring
Of these, the most glaring to me are the injuries to Bennett and Phillips. Along with Witten, they were poised to form a nice three-headed platoon at tight end, with the ability to stretch the field with their receiving abilities while also being able to make key blocks when necessary. Now Phillips is out for the season, while Bennett is shaky with the ankle and hasn’t exactly lived up to expectations when he was healthy.
Spears being out is big as well. He is a critical part of a Cowboys defense that finished 4th against the run last season. He is hoping to be back for the regular season opener against the Redskins on September 12. Until then, Jason Hatcher is filling that defensive end role.
As for the game, we’ll probably see the starters on both sides for most of the 1st quarter, if not the entire quarter, then the second teamers will start coming in.
The biggest thing to watch for is for no one else to get injured. And to see if the offense can actually score a touchdown this time around.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until the games start counting. Hopefully most of those players listed will be well enough to play by then.
GO COWBOYS!!!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
wow, that’s a lengthy list for the walking wounded. I’m ready to watch some football tonight and hope no one else gets injured
I am now officially worried about the front line that protects Jessica’s favorite: it seems this is shaping up as a season where the D-fence is destined to carry the O-fence, at least the first few weeks if not beyond. How do the rest of the Eastern Beast’s projects early? Thoughts?