IRVING, Texas – It's not going to stop the speculation, but Dez Bryant's status for Sunday against the Giants is going to hinge on one thing – and that's Dez himself, according to Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones.
"It totally depends on how he's doing," Jones said on Tuesday morning. "He had a good end of the week last week, got in some really good work, didn't have much negative response from that work. It was strenuous work – the kind that, if he can step out here and have a couple of really good days of practice, you could see him on go."
It's been almost six weeks exactly since Bryant broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot, back on Sept. 13 and had surgery to repair it. Since then, the All-Pro wide receiver has been working steadily to return to action. Last week, Bryant made a public appearance at Cowboys practice for some strength and conditioning work.
That goes along with several off-field steps Bryant has taken to hasten his return to the lineup. He had a bone graft on the broken bone to aid the recovery process, and he also had a therapeutic injection two weeks ago to strengthen the injured foot.
"I do think that the combination of all the work he's done -- which has been extraordinary -- as well as some of the additional procedures that we're doing, give us a lot of confidence that if he's comfortable to putting it down and driving off on his foot, then we're comfortable with him playing," Jones said.
Whether he's comfortable is going to depend on the next few days, to hear it from Jones. The Cowboys will monitor what Bryant is able to do these next few days at practice, and they'll want to be satisfied that he is comfortable moving around on-field.
Jones added that there's no timetable for determining what to do. It's simply an issue of waiting to see how Dez feels.
"Everybody will get a feel for it, but more importantly he'll get a feel for it," he said. "He'll have to decide, does he push off on it? This is strictly 'Do you feel comfortable making your cuts?' If you do, then it's on go. If you're not, then we'll wait a week."
In 11 career games against the Giants, Bryant has caught 57 total passes for 866 yards and six touchdowns. He had five catches for 48 yards during the Week 1 matchup before breaking his foot early in the fourth quarter.
