IRVING, Texas - With two new additions to the injury report, the Cowboys may have to take it easy in practice this week just to field a full 45-man active roster Sunday against the Giants.
Tests on Monday revealed tight end Jason Witten suffered a cracked rib during Sunday's win over Tampa Bay. Witten left the game in the second quarter and was taken to the locker room. While the initial x-rays were negative, Witten was unable to return to the game. He said he tried to doctor up the pain at halftime, but it was too unbearable.
Witten is the team's leading receiver, with 46 catches for 549 yards. He has informed coaches he will try to play with the injury, which may mean playing with a flak jacket to protect the ribs from hits. Earlier this season running back Marion Barber suffered bruised ribs in the second half against Cleveland and was unable to return to the game. Barber played the next week without having to wear extra protection.
Witten has built a reputation as one of the toughest players in the league. He hasn't missed a game since his rookie season, when a broken jaw kept him out of the fifth game of the season. He returned the next week and played with the jaw wired shut.
If he were unable to go, rookie Martellus Bennett would assume the majority of the first-team tight end duties, with Tony Curtis potentially stealing some snaps. Bennett caught a season-high three balls for 21 yards Sunday in relief of Witten, while Curtis had one catch for eight yards.
On top of Witten's injury, cornerback Anthony Henry suffered a slightly-torn quadriceps Sunday. Though the team is hopeful rest and treatments may allow him to play, Jerry Jones said after the game that he figured Henry would be unlikely to play against the Giants.
After Henry left the game in the third quarter, he was replaced by rookie Orlando Scandrick at right cornerback, with first-year man Alan Ball coming in on the nickel defense.
Henry has not been quite as sturdy during his years in Dallas as Witten. He missed three games to an ankle injury last year, and four games because of a groin injury in 2005.
The Cowboys already have three players on the injured reserve, and five more guys likely out until after the team's open date, Nov. 9. If unable to play, Witten and Henry would join quarterback Tony Romo (finger), running back Felix Jones (hamstring), linebacker Anthony Spencer (hamstring), left guard Kyle Kosier (foot) and cornerback Terence Newman (abdomen) as guys out until at least the Redskins game.
Stone Released To Make Room For Butler
On Tuesday the Cowboys released safety Daren Stone, who they signed just last Wednesday to address potential depth problems at the position. With Henry's injury, the biggest depth concern became cornerback.
With Pat Watkins able to return from his neck injury Sunday, Stone was made inactive for the win against Tampa Bay.
Cutting Stone allows the Cowboys to sign cornerback Quincy Butler from New Orleans' practice squad, where he has spent the last three weeks. Butler has played just one game in his NFL career, Christmas Day in 2006.
After an all-conference senior season at TCU, Butler joined the Cowboys for training camp in 2006 and made the practice squad, where he spent most of the last two seasons. Cowboys strength coach Joe Juraszek called him one of the team's most athletic players last year, but a hamstring injury kept him off the field during training camp this summer.
Butler was waived before the team's final preseason game. With all the time he missed in camp and the depth the team had at the position then, he couldn't be considered as more than the eighth cornerback in camp. They kept six, and Evan Oglesby, the final cut at the position, landed in Baltimore.
Butler is expected to assume the No. 36 that he wore with the Cowboys, ironically the same number Stone wore in his brief Cowboys tenure. Unless Henry is able to play, Butler is expected to be active Sunday because the team would only have three healthy cornerbacks, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick and Alan Ball.
Woody's Turn?
Former Cowboys safety Darren Woodson is among seven Cowboys eligible for the 2009 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after his name was among 133 on a preliminary list of candidates.
Woodson is the only Cowboy in his first year of eligibility. He retired on Dec. 29, 2004 as the team's all-time leading tackler, with 1,350 stops. Woodson played on three Super Bowl championship teams and was a stalwart in the Cowboys secondary, able to deliver game-changing hits and cover receivers in the slot, virtually unheard of for a safety.
A panel of Hall of Fame selectors will trim this list from 133 names to 25, and eventually 15 names will be discussed for induction during Super Bowl week. Former Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes will definitely be included in the final debate, after he was announced as a Senior's Committee selection in August.
Ground rules dictate that each Hall of Fame class should have between four and seven members. Former Bills defensive end Bruce Smith would seem a good bet for first-ballot initiation, as well as longtime Steelers, Raiders and Ravens defensive back Rod Woodson. Other former Cowboys up for consideration are defensive end Charles Haley, running back Herschel Walker, center Ray Donaldson, defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson. Former scouting director Gil Brandt and owner Jerry Jones are up for consideration as league contributors.
Short Shots
According to the New York Daily News, Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said he would prefer to play the Cowboys at their best because, "We don't want to have excuses like 'Romo is not playing, we didn't have this guy, we didn't have that guy.'" . . . Receiver Roy Williams celebrated Halloween in Detroit at a charity costume party hosted by ex-teammate Mike Furrey. His costume? Williams went as former Lions running back Tatum Bell, mocking the incident where Bell allegedly stole bags from new Lion runner Rudi Johnson . . . The Cowboys are 54-36-2 all-time against the Giants.
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