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Offensive guard Nate Livings didn't participate in this morning's walkthrough due to a sore knee, and, as Jason Garrett put it in today's press conference, because "he’s kind of managing his way through a couple different deals" that could keep him out for up to two weeks
Compounding the situation for the Cowboys is the fact that Livings is the fifth interior lineman who's out due to injury: Starting right guard Mackenzy Bernadeau is likely out until next week, Kevin Kowalski bruised his knee earlier this week and is likely out for two to four weeks, and both Ray Dominguez (shoulder) and OG/OC Ryan Cook (back) are out as well.
That leaves the Cowboys with just four healthy interior linemen who can suit up on Sunday: Ron Leary, Phil Costa, Travis Frederick and David Arkin are all that is left at the moment. All four will therefore get extended playing time, though Garrett hasn't finalized those details yet:
"We haven’t had those specific conversations about the exact playing time that each of these guys are going to have in this game Sunday night. But we’ll have those conversations in the next couple of days."
Over the last few days, many Cowboys fans have been advocating an interior line of Leary - Frederick - Arkin, who together have a grand total of zero regular season snaps. For these three linemen, this could well be their trial by fire.
Because of the injury situation, the Cowboys are now looking to bring in some outside help, including but not limited to Brian Waters and local prospect James Nelson.
After doing some more checking My friend @SullyBaldHead is on to the story of Brian Watters. Just ran it past another source and are looking
— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) August 1, 2013
#Cowboys eyeing former #UTEP offensive lineman James Nelson, a Ventura Buena High grad, the Ventura County-Star is reporting
— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) August 1, 2013
Per the Dallas Morning news, Stephen Jones has indicated the Cowboys will be bringing in two players for workouts today:
"Of course,’’ Jones said. "You have this many guys injured and you only have four healthy guys out there, I mean yeah, that’s why we’re bringing guys in every time you turn around.
We'll know later in the day who those two guys are.
[Update: 5:15 ET] And now we know who they brought in:
Cowboys roster moves: Signed G Jeff Olson (TCU) & OT James Nelson (UTEP)... Cut CB Devin Smith, DE Cameron Sheffield.
— Nick Eatman (@nickeatman) August 1, 2013