OXNARD, Calif. -On a roster that's getting pretty beat up at this point in camp, with 18 of the 90 players not participating in Sunday's scrimmage, the silver lining is that most of the injuries are not considered long-term.
In fact, the two biggest names to go down, Miles Austin and Morris Claiborne, are not thought to be serious, and could both return to practice after the Monday night game in Oakland next week.
While the timeframe isn't an issue, the simple fact that either player was hurt raises a red flag. After battling hamstring injuries all of last season, the last thing Austin needed was to tweak the muscle again. And after sitting out 14 practices this summer following wrist surgery, it isn't helping Claiborne to be watching from the sidelines again, this time with a knee injury.
If anybody was going to say they aren't worried about the two injuries, it was Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"I'm not necessarily concerned about (Austin's) situation, and why I'm not is because we're being very conservative there," Jones said. "These guys get a little tightness, get a little twinge, everybody's on the same page here. Let them have a couple of days off. We're a month away from lining up, so there's no need to get out here and try and push these guys and get something that could take weeks. The only thing I can remember is how last year it took weeks for him to get back. What you're seeing is preventative, so it won't take weeks."
Austin also sat out most of camp last year as a precautionary measure.
Claiborne's injury has been diagnosed as a mild MCL sprain.
"I've seen enough of him to be really excited about what he's going to do for our team this year," Jones said. "And he's really kept up with everything, relative to the classroom work, and of course he's been out here all the time, and I'm just glad it's not a very serious sprain and he should be right back out there."
