News: BTB: Cowboys vs. Rams: Odds & Ends, Including Injury Updates

NewsBot · Sep 23, 2013

We've been covering most of the major themes and stats that came out of the Cowboys 31-7 crushing of the Rams. Now let's pick up on some of the extras and injuries we haven't discussed.

Miles Austin hurt his hamstring and stat out the end of the game. Anytime you hear the word hamstring attached to Miles Austin you should immediately worry. Hamstrings have been holding him back for years. Luckily, at this early juncture, the Cowboys don't think his injury is serious.

The Dallas Cowboys do not believe Miles Austin's strained hamstring is as serious as the hamstring injuries that have limited the wide receiver in each of the past two seasons, a source told ESPN.com. The Cowboys will be cautious this week with Austin, who suffered the injury in Sunday's 31-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams, and will see how he feels Wednesday before determining if he will practice.

Hoping for the best on that one.

Next up is Anthony Spencer, who surprisingly didn't suit on Sunday. That's been kind of forgotten since the Cowboys defensive line was outstanding and George Selvie continues to perform well as the starter.

"We thought during the week it didn’t look like he’d be able to go this week," Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "We didn’t know for sure, but he had another little setback. We’re sure [eager] to get him in there."

Spencer missed practice Wednesday and Friday and was limited Thursday. He has practiced only three times since undergoing knee surgery July 25.

A little setback? Keep an eye on that.

Finally, DeMarcus Ware suffered another neck stinger in the first half, but thinks he might have figured out the problem after he made an adjustment to a neck pad.

Enough with the injuries. How about some more good news, like the play of J.J. Wilcox. He showed no problems yesterday, mixed it up a little by getting in on some tackles and had an interception nullified by a penalty. The Cowboys secondary wasn't challenged very often by the Rams, so we'll need to reserve judgment on Wilcox for a while, but it was a promising start. It sounds like the Cowboys were planning this all along and it was only slowed down by Wilcox missing time in camp because of the death of his mother.

"He did a nice job," defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said. "He had a setback with his mother, which is totally understandable. He’d had a good off-season. In Oxnard, he played pretty well. But he missed some time and it’s hard. Will Allen has done a nice job. We respect the job Will Allen has done. Will’s been a great help to the young guys. But we wanted to get J.J. out there, because he does have a lot of ability. If you don’t play those young guys, you’ll never know. Don’t put them out there in the 10th game of the year. Find out if they can play."

And now for some stats. The Cowboys have been the epitome of mediocrity over the last two years, and over the last decade plus. Since 2000, the Cowboys record is 106-105. Since the 2011 season, they are 18-17.

Also, this next game is key.

This is the eighth time in 11 years the Cowboys have managed a 2-1 record through three weeks. They failed to improve to 3-1, instead falling to 2-2, on six of those seven previous occasions. Next week’s game against San Diego will be telling in that regard.

If they can go 3-1, then we may be really talking about a changed team for 2013, but we'll wait and see. Only a sip of Kool Aid allowed this week.

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News: BTB: Cowboys vs. Rams: Odds & Ends, Including Injury Updates

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