IRVING, Texas – Rolando McClain will be absent for the Cowboys' Wednesday and Thursday practices this week, as he attends to a personal situation in his home state of Alabama.
"Rolando is not going to be here today or tomorrow, he's taking care of some personal situations. We do anticipate him being back," said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
The plan is for McClain to return to the team facility on Friday. The reasoning for McClain to miss practice is new, but this is a familiar scenario for the Cowboys' middle linebacker. He has missed Wednesday and Thursday practices in two of the last three weeks because of a groin injury.
"It is the same practice rhythm that he's had the last couple weeks where he hasn't been able to practice on Wednesday and Thursday," Garrett said.
While he's gone, the Cowboys have set McClain up to watch film and begin game prep for the Giants remotely. That should be familiar territory for McClain – though as opposed to last week, he won't be available for team walkthroughs as the Cowboys prepare for their first division game.
"Any time anybody misses anything like that, that's not a good thing for them and for our team," Garrett said. "But those circumstances happen, and you have to make the best of them. We'll certainly try to do that with him."
McClain missed the first practice of training camp in July while he faced trial in Alabama for charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct stemming from an incident in 2013. Garrett said the absences this week are not related to that situation.[embeddedad0]
"Just a personal situation regarding his family," he said.
In his place the Cowboys will lean on a rotation of their other linebackers in the middle. Both McClain and Bruce Carter were absent from Wednesday's practice, but the Cowboys' contingent of Justin Durant, Anthony Hitchens, Kyle Wilber Cameron Lawrence and Korey Toomer were available.
