Antwaun Woods, Vander Esch missing from Cowboys practice

Three banged up players for the Dallas Cowboys participated in Tuesday’s practice ahead of the team’s annual Thanksgiving game.

The Dallas Cowboys have their usual short turnaround for their annual Thanksgiving game, this time against the Buffalo Bills. The time to recuperate is short, so the load is lighter in terms of the mileage put on the players during practice.

The good news is that only two players were absent from Tuesday’s session, defensive tackle Antwaun Woods who has an injured knee and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch who is dealing with a neck injury of still unknown severity.

The surprise participants have all been playing through injuries of varying severity. Safety Jeff Heath has two banged up shoulders, even leaving last week’s game against the New England Patriots. Offensive tackle La’el Collins has had ailments in his knee and back and has been on the injury report fairly consistently.

Finally, wide receiver Amari Cooper has disappeared from the official injury reports for the first time all season.

[lawrence-related id=635058]

Dallas is 6-5 on the season and is still in control of their own destiny but are quickly running out of both goodwill and a margin of error. Having the healthiest team possible can go a long way into deciding their ultimate fate.

[vertical-gallery id=635089][vertical-gallery id=634743][lawrence-newsletter]