IRVING, Texas - By the second half of Sunday's game against the Buccaneers, the Cowboys secondary situation had reached the sum of all fears.

Injuries and a suspension to their top three cornerbacks left the Cowboys with just Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick and Alan Ball remaining at the position - two rookies and a first-year guy playing in only his sixth NFL game.

As it turns out, the youngsters handled themselves pretty well.

"The way they played was the real important thing," Wade Phillips said of Jenkins and Scandrick on Monday. "They were real aggressive. Both of them can really run.

They don't get in trouble. If they get in trouble they catch up with people. We made one mistake, they had a 35-yard pass. Those are to be expected sometimes, unfortunately, when you have younger players. Other than that, they were really sound, and real aggressive. And like I said, in Scandrick's case, I think he was playing better than a rookie. He anticipated things and made a lot of plays.

"And Alan Ball . . . came in and played with enthusiasm. They were feeding on each other, I think defensively, and that was important."

Jenkins was starting his second straight game at left cornerback for Terence Newman (abdominal) and Adam "Pacman" Jones (suspension). Going into the game, Scandrick was filling Newman's role as the slot cornerback in nickel situations, but when Anthony Henry left in the third quarter with a quad injury, Scandrick moved to right cornerback in the base defense as well. He moved back to the slot on passing downs when Ball came in to play right corner.

While Jenkins had been serviceable earlier in the season when he came in, Sunday he seemed to be thinking less, making plays on the ball instead of waiting for the action to come to him.

After Sunday's game, Jerry Jones said he considered Henry highly questionable for the Giants game. If Henry's injury is one that will keep him out for Sunday's outing against the Giants or further, Phillips said Scandrick will start in his place. On Monday, the Cowboys were awaiting word on Henry while considering cornerbacks to work out on Tuesday in case they found out he wouldn't be available. The Cowboys are not expected to show much interest in former Pro-Bowler Ty Law, who has expressed an interest in playing for the team. At 34, Law lacks the speed that made him a star in his younger days.

"Depending on Henry's injury, obviously, would be the key," Phillips said. "We were at one point really strong secondary-wise and corner-wise going into the season. Now our fourth, fifth, sixth corners ended up playing. But they played well. And that's a credit to them, and I think the coaches did a good job."

Second-year safety Courtney Brown also played for extended periods during Sunday's win, including throughout Tampa Bay's 16-play final drive. By the end of the game, safety Ken Hamlin was the only able-bodied secondary member with more than 14 games of NFL experience. He said he likes the confidence the young guys have shown.

"They have the right to be confident," Hamlin said. "The work that they put in during the week, they know what they have to do, they have the ability to do it, so it's right for them to be confident in their play."

The youngster with the most swagger might be Scandrick, who Phillips said may have proved he should keep his slot duty even after Newman returns, presumably after the Cowboys' bye week, because Newman has missed so much time and it has really been Scandrick's job the majority of the season.

"Of course he covers well man-to-man which helps us as the slot position," Phillips said. "But in the zone stuff he was even telling other guys what adjustments to make."

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