News: BTB: Cowboys injury update: Tyron Smith, Sean Lee, Jeff Heath to miss practice

[NewsBot]

The first practice of the week will see a couple of key Cowboys missing.

The Dallas Cowboys are hoping that left tackle Tyron Smith will be able to play this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. After Adrian Clayborn and the Falcons absolutely destroyed Chaz Green (and Byron Bell) last week, the Cowboys desperately need their All-Pro tackle back in action. The news was that he was doing some running in a workout on Monday, but he’s not yet ready for practice. He, along with some other key members of the team, will miss today’s practice.

Cowboys S Jeff Heath (concussion) and LT Tyron Smith (groin, back) and LB Sean Lee (hamstring) and K Dan Bailey (groin) won't practice today.

— Brandon George (@DMN_George) November 15, 2017​

Smith has regularly been missing Wednesday practices this year, mainly for his back, so not having him today isn’t necessarily a bad sign. The real test will be tomorrow. If he can’t go then, the likelihood of him playing starts going down.

Sean Lee won’t practice as expected, and sources have already let us know that it could be a few games until he returns from his hamstring injury. The Cowboys will be shifting Anthony Hitchens over to his weakside position, but who will man the middle is a question. It will likely be a combination of Jaylon Smith and Justin Durant, who has been inactive recently. They may just turn to the vet as Smith has struggled when asked to play a lot of snaps.

Jeff Heath is in the concussion protocol, if he can’t go Xavier Woods will be the guy. The Cowboys should be getting Chidobe Awuzie back this week, so he could be in the mix some, too.

Rico Gathers is making progress, but it’s unclear how much longer he will be out.

Jason Garrett says Rico Gathers has been in meetings this week. He expects him “to do something physical” today, but he doesn’t know how much he’ll practice #cowboyswire

— David Helman (@HelmanDC) November 15, 2017​

And sadly, Dan Bailey is still out. Mike Nugent is no substitute.

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