LOS ANGELES – Chaz Green hadn't played a football game since his final college appearance at Florida at the end of the 2014 season.
The Cowboys elected to hold All-Pro Tyron Smith out of Saturday's preseason opener due to a minor stinger he sustained in practice this past week. That meant Green, the team's third-round pick a year ago, would start at left tackle and play deep into the fourth quarter.
Green missed all of training camp and preseason last year due to hip surgery, and although we was activated from the physically unable to perform list in December, he was inactive for the final five games.
With Charles Brown placed on the Reserve/Retired list just before training camp, Green has a chance to replace him as the primary backup to Smith and right tackle Doug Free.
From a conditioning standpoint, Green said he was ready to handle the large number of snaps on Saturday. He's still working on being consistent in his technique, though; he committed three penalties against the Rams.
"First game - just got to keep improving from here," he said.
-Rob Phillips
