IRVING, Texas -After sitting out all but the first few days of training camp, cornerback Terence Newman won't simply be thrown into the fire on opening night.
Jason Garrett said Newman, who turned 33 on Sunday, will have to prove that he is healthy and ready to play in practice before he gets the green light to play against the Jets. Newman hurt his groin during the first week of training camp in San Antonio.
Newman did not work with the team in Monday's bonus session, instead performing rehab and conditioning work with athletic trainers off to the side. The Cowboys won't have an official injury report until Wednesday, at which time they will designate players as having full or limited participation in practice.
"Absolutely, he has to practice," Garrett said. "The degree to which he has to practice, we don't have any concrete rules about, but you have to practice. We have to have a great feeling about him having prepared on the practice field before playing in the game Sunday night."
Fellow starting cornerback Mike Jenkins was also hurt early in camp, suffering a stinger, but he returned to practice a couple weeks back. Jenkins was kept from contact, but at least has plenty of full-speed repetitions that Newman hasn't gotten.
"We just have to see those guys, really on a day-to-day basis," Garrett said. "We knew that Terence was going to be out for a while, and we pointed to about this time for him to come back. So we'll see how he responds this week, over the next couple of days, and see if he can prepare the way he needs to prepare to play a ball game."
In 2008, when Newman suffered a similar groin injury early in camp, he missed the season opener at Cleveland.
Orlando Scandrick would get the start if Newman cannot play.
