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The National Football League has seen a lot of big-time injuries in the aftermath of Week 2, so much of the game of football is a battle of attrition. The Dallas Cowboys got dealt their first injury blow when they found out wide receiver Michael Gallup will miss 2-4 weeks with a knee that needed surgery, but unfortunately the news didn’t stop there.
Early Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Todd Archer reported another injury that that Dallas is now dealing with. Xavier Woods suffered a high ankle injury at Washington and his status against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3 is now in question.
Free safety Xavier Woods suffered a high ankle injury Sunday at Washington and is availability for this week’s game against Miami is in doubt, according to sources. He was hurt on the final series. If Woods can’t play, then Darian Thompson could move into the starting lineup with rookie Donovan Wilson being active for the first time this season. Thompson played mostly a special teams’ role for the Cowboys last season but had a solid training camp before suffering an ankle injury in a preseason game.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero added this to go with Wood’s long-term status.
#Cowboys FS Xavier Woods is expected to miss four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain, source said. A blow to the secondary with #Saints, #Packers among upcoming opponents.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 17, 2019
And this from the Dallas Morning News.
Xavier Woods will miss Sunday’s game with a high ankle sprain. But sources stress he’s week to week at this point. There’s no indication he’ll miss a substantial part of the schedule.
— David Moore (@DavidMooreDMN) September 17, 2019
As Archer mentions, the plan for Dallas would be to roll with Darian Thompson and rookie Donovan Wilson in the back end of their defense should Woods ultimately not play. Wilson has yet to be active this season but he showed an enormous amount of promise in the preseason.
It’s important to acknowledge who the Cowboys are playing over the course of the next four to six weeks:
- Miami Dolphins
- at New Orleans Saints
- Green Bay Packers
- at New York Jets
- Philadelphia Eagles
- BYE WEEK
There are two to three questionable quarterbacks in that mix, so while missing Woods for some time isn’t ideal the Cowboys aren’t exactly facing a gauntlet at this moment in the season. Hopefully Woods heals up sooner rather than later and hopefully returns. For what it’s worth the Cowboys are working out Josh Jones at safety on Tuesday.
Some workouts today: The #Cowboys are working out S Josh Jones; The #Falcons are working out LB Carroll Phillips; The #Jets have CB and ST Kayvon Webster in, while the #Skins have RB Josh Ferguson.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 17, 2019