This is the time of year when injury reports can be a bit deceiving. Clubs that have suffered catastrophic injury tolls can have light injury reports on a weekly basis because the players they are missing have all been moved to injured reserve. There are a myriad of teams who have lost major contributors for the season. The Cowboys aren’t one of them. Certainly, their secondary is depleted. Starting slot corner Jourdan Lewis was lost for the year in October.
Despite not yet putting him on IR, starting boundary corner Anthony Brown joined him this week after being hur in Week 13 against the Colts. But outside of that, Dallas has fared well. Everyone else who has been lost for the year has been a reserve. Meanwhile the biggest short-term concern has been sickness, and on Friday it hit LB Leighton Vander Esch.
The two long-term injuries to key players, Tyron Smith’s hamstring and James Washington’s foot, have healed to the point both are expected to make their season debuts in the next 10 days.
Washington should play this week against the Houston Texans while Smith is expected to return to left tackle next week in Jacksonville against the Jaguars. This scenario has the Week 14 injury report looking like a relativey clean bill of health for Dallas, but the same can’t be said for the Texans.
Houston will play without their top two receivers this week, ruling out both Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins. They will also miss their top rookie, a wide receiver stopper in Derek Stingley, Jr.
There are more players on the list, though. Here’s the full injury report and designations.