The formerly award winning, now floundering mailbag section of DallasCowboys.com will be updated Thursday, with the writers addressing a question of blame – who's to blame for the team's rash of training camp and preseason injuries.
Spoiler alert! No one is to blame. Injuries are, more often than not, a matter of poor luck, and the Cowboys apparently haven't been carrying the rabbit's foot with them this summer. Our fathers, who art in the offices of NFL.com, have named the Cowboys one of the four unluckiest teams of the preseason.
Here's what Around The League editor Gregg Rosenthal had to say:
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*Dallas Cowboys: Last year's biggest problem -- the interior offensive line -- remains ravaged by injuries and uncertainty. Wide receiver remains a thin position with the starters still injury-prone. Miles Austin won't play in the preseason and Dez Bryant will likely miss half of it. With the No. 3 receiver spot up for grabs, tight end Jason Witten's role is more important than ever. He's questionable for Week 1 with a lacerated spleen.*
To be fair, the line is starting to heal, with four of the five presumed starters now practicing, and the fifth, center Phil Costa, likely to get back to work early next week. Austin's latest hamstring trouble is not thought to be as serious as the injuries that troubled him last year, and the Cowboys are simply exercising caution. Bryant has gotten a lot of good work in already. And of anybody on the team, Witten probably needs the extra reps least of all.
But speaking of bad luck, the Cowboys' biggest problem this preseason has been the schedule. Because they were the last team (along with Oakland) to play in the preseason, since ESPN requested that game for preseason's Week 1 Monday night tilt, they were also forced to hold off the opening of camp until two weeks prior. The Arizona Cardinals, for example, began an entire week before the Cowboys.
And as we know, the Cowboys will play in the very first regular season game, against the Giants, a full four days sooner than other teams first hit the field. Because they're squeezed on both ends of the preseason, the Cowboys will play on Sept. 5 with maybe 10 fewer practices than some teams. The injuries are bad luck, yes, but the scheduling is where the Cowboys have really gotten the shaft.
