IRVING, Texas – Head coach Jason Garrett said he expects Dez Bryant (hamstring) to be a full participant when the Cowboys get back to practice Wednesday in preparation for the Sunday night regular-season opener against the Giants.
Bryant returned to full practice in the latter part of training camp following the hamstring injury he sustained Aug. 6. He was held out of all four preseason games, but Garrett believes Bryant's rapport with quarterback Tony Romo over several seasons should mitigate the preseason reps they missed together.
"We're fortunate that Tony and Dez spent a lot of time on task over the years and spent a lot of time on the practice field and they've obviously played a lot in games together," Garrett said. "You want guys practicing every day. You want them out there working together every day but sometimes you're not able to do that so you try to make the best of what the situation is. We're confident that they have a lot of experience in the past that they can certainly hone in on."
Romo appeared in two of the four preseason games -- he was rested with several other starters in the preseason opener and finale -- and he enters the season healthier than he's been the past couple of years when he was coming off back surgery. Last year Romo established a routine of resting his back on Wednesdays during the season, but Garrett said no such plan has been set yet.
Romo took periodic rest days during this year's camp based mostly off how his body felt day to day.
"We feel good about where he is physically," Garrett said, "and then we'll just have those discussions about how we want to handle each week and we'll finalize those here in the next couple of days."
Overall the Cowboys appear to be in good shape health-wise. Garrett said wide receiver Devin Street (ankle) expects to practice Wednesday, and the team is "optimistic" linebacker Anthony Hitchens (foot) will, too.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones told 105.3 The Fan on Monday that right guard Zack Martin appears fully recovered from the stinger he sustained in practice Aug. 18. The Cowboys held him out of the final three preseason games.
"We think he's 100 percent," Jones said, crediting Martin's work with the athletic training staff. "We feel really good about the health of our team and I feel good about the conditioning that the guys are in."
