We haven’t had a week like this in long time. We have 3, 4, maybe 5 moving parts on the 45-man roster for this Saturday’s game.
We all assume Tony Romo will play, he assumes it and so does Wade.
"I think he's going to be fine," head coach Wade Phillips said of Romo, who suffered the injury when he hit his right thumb on guard Leonard Davis' helmet during Sunday's loss to the Eagles. "But we didn't really throw the ball (in Tuesday's walk-through). He didn't take any snaps from center. But he was able to grip the football; we just didn't have him throw the football. He just lobbed it to somebody, but that's basically what we do overall (in a walk-through)."
Roy Williams is appealing his suspension, but I really don’t see Goodell changing his mind now. So, Roy almost certainly won’t be playing. From Nick Eatman:
Having to play a game without your starting strong safety, second-leading tackler and one of your more experienced players is never something a team would prefer.
But it's even worse when a key backup at the same position, Pat Watkins, is also expected to sit out.
If that is the case, backup Keith Davis would replace Williams at strong safety. Davis has started 21 games in his career, but all at free safety.
So Keith Davis will probably start alongside Ken Hamlin, presumably with Hamlin staying at FS and Davis at SS. The loss of Pat Watkins who has been all but ruled out will mean that Courtney Brown will substitute in on some of the dime packages. It’s also been mentioned that Alan Ball may get a shot at taking over some of Watkins special teams duties.
Andre Gurode sounds like a no-go for Saturday.
With Gurode likely out, third-year lineman Cory Procter is set to make his first NFL start at center. Procter filled in for Gurode when he left limped off the field in the third quarter of Sunday's game against the Eagles. Joe Berger, a game-day active only once this year but did not play, will move up to replace Procter as the backup center-guard against the Panthers.
But at least we have some good news. Chris Canty and Anthony Fasasno look good to go.
...defensive end Chris Canty and tight end Anthony Fasano seemed poised to return after leaving Sunday's game against Philadelphia with injuries.
Plus, may we finally see the return of Terry Glenn.
And on top of that, wide receiver Terry Glenn still has a viable chance of making his 2007 debut Saturday against the Panthers, although the Cowboys won't be certain until he goes through a full practice.
The word is he ran some harder routes today and hopes to participate in the team practice tomorrow. We’ll see.
What a mess.