Kosier likely done for the year

This is off the Cowboys website.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=DB184A6E-BA08-95B4-3B00128CEFE48D96

IRVING, Texas - The Cowboys know for certain starting left guard Kyle Kosier will spend Thursday watching his teammates take on the Seattle Seahawks at 3:15 p.m. (CST) in the final Thanksgiving Day game to be played at Texas Stadium.

And they are about as certain as they can be that Kosier, still struggling with ligament damage in his right foot, has played his final game of the 2008 season.

They basically are waiting for a second opinion on if and when the surgery takes place, and that should come at some point next week when Kosier flies to Charlotte, N.C., to be examined by Dr. Robert Anderson, the same doctor who repaired Terence Newman's sports hernia.

Kosier, who initially suffered sprained ligaments and a hairline fracture in his right foot during the third preseason game on Aug. 22, has made a gallant effort to rehab and play through the injury. But he has reinjured the foot twice now, and while Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has expressed a wait-and-see approach, sources say surgery has become inevitable.

When the seventh-year veteran with two years left on his five-year deal first suffered the injury, the Cowboys medical team decided to place him in a cast instead of performing season-ending surgery. Kosier was able to return for the Green Bay game, but late in the fourth quarter, with Lambeau Field getting a tad torn up, Kosier had the misfortune of stepping in a hole on the field, causing the ligaments to suffer further damage.

At that time Kosier, still wanting to play this season, convinced the doctors to put off surgery. So this time he was rested a full eight weeks before heading back on the field. He was able to play through the Washington game with little problem, but there were fears he could have difficulty when facing bigger, bull-rushing San Francisco defensive linemen.

Sure enough, at some point in the second quarter, having to step back one too many times to brace himself against the onslaught caused ligament damage again, leaving the joint in his foot far too loose to continue.

Surgery likely will require three to four months of rehabilitation, and doing so now would have Kosier ready for the off-season workouts starting in April.