IRVING, Texas –Following Wednesday's walkthrough, Gerald Sensabaugh was asked about his status for Monday's game against the Bears after missing last weekend's victory due to a calf injury. His answer was short and sweet.
"I'm going to play."
When asked if he had been cleared by doctors, Sensabaugh dodged the question, but confirmed his original statement.
"Uhh, I'm just going to play," Sensabaugh said with a smile.
He did not want to get into the details of his injury, but simply explained that he would be ready to compete.
"We had a walkthrough practice and I went though it all. We did some running afterward, so I'm able to run so I'll be ready to go. I'm good. "
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Bonus Day
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With a bye week approaching and a number of Cowboys banged up, some people might suggest that certain players could be rested on Monday night, allowing them two straight weeks to fully recover. However, don't count head coach Jason Garrett among those people.
"We play 16 games in the NFL and they're hard to win," Garrett said. "We value every game regardless of where we're playing or who the opponent is. If we have guys that are healthy enough to play to help us win a ball game, they're hard to win, so we're going to try and get guys out there to help us win games. If they're not healthy and they're not ready, then we'll wait."
Garrett also pointed out that the Cowboys are using the extra day of practice this week to have an hour-long walk through as opposed to a normal two-hour practice in full pads.
The Cowboys typically start their full practices on a Wednesday and progress forward into Sunday's game.
"What we've tried to do is make it a bonus day. We really believe in the rhythm of the workweek and that will be tomorrow (Thursday). Thursday will be a Wednesday, Friday will be a Thursday, Saturday will be a Friday and all that leading up to Monday night's game.
The Cowboys hope to take advantage of the extra time, but did not put the players through a full contact practice on Wednesday.
"We have a lot of guys banged up," Garrett said. "We have a lot of guys playing through different things, but we don't want the preparation for Chicago to go by the wayside, so it's obviously a big Bears preview/preparation day for us."
Injury Report
One of the "banged up" guys that Garrett may have been referring to is Jay Ratliff, who has yet to make his season debut after suffering a high ankle sprain in the preseason. Ratliff hasn't been able to practice, but Garrett claimed the team is optimistic about him returning to action soon.
"We're certainly hopeful," Garrett said. "He's getting better and better, so hopefully as this week progresses, we'll get him out there practicing."
Defensive end Kenyon Coleman is also nursing a knee injury that kept him out of the Tampa Bay game and his status for this week's contest is up in the air.
Punter Chris Jones was not present during the Wednesday walkthrough while the special teams practiced. Jones may have been receiving treatment on his leg. He was run into by a defender on Sunday against the Buccaneers after one of his punts was nearly blocked. There has been no indication that he his status for Monday's game is in jeopardy.
Safety Barry Church had successful surgery on Tuesday for his torn Achilles injury. He was placed on the IR, allowing the Cowboys to sign safety Eric Frampton.
