Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith Injuries Leave Both As Possibly Out Against Green Bay

Coach Jason Garrett held a very short press conference today and updated the status of a few of the injured Cowboys.

Dez Bryant - Coach said Dez did more yesterday than he did on Wednesday and that they were optimistic about his progress. But, they don’t anticipate him participating in a full practice today, he’ll likely do individual drills again today, and possibly a little more. When asked about the bye week being a consideration for holding him out against Green Bay, he said they try not to let the bye week factor in, with only 16 games on the schedule, it’s an “all hands on deck” situation each week. Still, it didn’t really give you confidence that Dez would play.

Tyron Smith - He didn’t do much yesterday, they are hoping he can do more today. With Chaz Green not practicing again this week, they have been giving Emmett Cleary some work, but Garrett spent more time talking about other guys playing in different positions than he did about Cleary. If Smith isn’t able to go, it sounds like they may move Doug Free to the left side, slide Zack Martin to right tackle and insert, presumably, Joe Looney as right guard. Garrett made it clear that the offensive line has to be flexible and play different spots and combinations. This was particularly worrisome, there didn’t seem to be a lot of confidence in Smith’s ability to practice/play. Of course, that could change quickly but we won’t likely know if he’ll play until close to game time.

Garrett was also asked about the status of Darren McFadden, James Hanna and Jaylon Smith, since the six-week NFI period is almost up. Garrett was vague in saying they are all making progress at different speeds, but that he didn’t anticipate any of them would be a full-go for practices next week. He did not get asked about the individual status of Jaylon Smith, so no new word on his nerve recovering or not.

Jerry Jones commented on the radio earlier today that Orlando Scandrick would be available after the bye week.