IRVING, Texas – The game may not have swung the way he wanted, but Anthony Spencer was pleased with how his knee fared in his return to game action Sunday.
Spencer played a significant amount of snaps in the Cowboys' 17-16 loss to the Chiefs in his first action since a July knee surgery. The amount of progress he made on his way back to the field didn't offset his disappointment with the loss, however – particularly when he and the Cowboys' defense were unable to get Kansas City off the field in the dying minutes.
"It was pretty disappointing," Spencer said. "The game was on the line, and we pretty much lost the game right there -- so I mean, it's that disappointing."
The result on the scoreboard might not be satisfying, but Spencer said he was pleasantly surprised by the amount he was able to do in his first game back.
"It's a work in progress," he said. "I mean, it's the first action I've really seen this year – it was better than I expected.
It's been almost two months since Spencer underwent arthroscopic surgery on the knee. He said the joint was "pretty" sore following a full day of action, but he was able to continue the rehab process when the Cowboys reported to work on Monday.
"I can walk and move around," he said. "I did a little – not running, but elliptical – a little conditioning."
The Cowboys' plan for Spencer this week looks to be the same as the routine they used to prep him for Kansas City. Spencer said he expects to participate in practice Wednesday, take a scheduled day off to work on his knee Thursday, with another, lighter practice session Friday. He said the work routine for the off day is a mixed bag of exercises.
"Just mix it in, just like we did this past week – just rehab, strength and conditioning," he said. [embedded_ad]
As he said, Spencer's output against the Chiefs went better than most had anticipated going into the road trip. He only notched two tackles during his playing time, but the number of snaps he was able to play was impressive given Sunday was his first meaningful action since the end of the 2012 season.
The mantra for the Cowboys' defense since the spring has been to increase the amount of turnovers they create. Spencer echoed that sentiment Monday, as he cited the missed opportunities in the loss.
"It was really disappointing for us to lose that way. We had a couple of opportunities on offense and on defense," he said. "Whenever you have those opportunities you really want to cash in on them. We practice to make plays in those types of situations; we just didn't come up with them."
