OXNARD, Calif. -- The typical recovery from arthroscopic surgery is two to four weeks, but the Dallas Cowboys believe left guard Ronald Leary will need closer to two weeks than four once he has the operation on his right knee Friday.
“We don’t think it’s too serious,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We think it can get cleaned up and he can get back on the practice field in a couple of weeks. We take those things day by day, and hopefully it is what we think it is and we’ll get it resolved.”
If it takes two weeks, then Leary would miss the final two preseason games against Cincinnati (Aug. 24) and Houston (Aug. 29), but it would allow him at least seven days of practice leading into the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the New York Giants.
It is a setback for a line that has not been able to build continuity throughout the summer because of injuries. Last year’s starting left guard, Nate Livings, is recovering from knee surgery. Right guard Mackenzy Bernadeau missed the early part of training camp with a hamstring injury suffered in the conditioning test.
Jermey Parnell, Demetress Bell, Ryan Cook, Kevin Kowalski and Ray Dominguez have also missed time because of injuries.
“We just keep moving on,” offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Bill Callahan said. “I’m used to this. Don’t blink. Don’t flinch. Keep moving.”
But Callahan feels bad for Leary, who took most of the first-team reps in the offseason because of Livings’ absence due to a sore knee.
“He was really making tremendous progress,” Callahan said. “We just want to pick up where he left off when he comes back. He showed a lot of promise. He’s a guy who can fill that position well. We’re two guards down at that spot, we’ll have to see what we do going forward. We really haven’t finalized anything.”
The Cowboys have been linked to Brian Waters once the deal for veteran Brandon Moore fell apart, but the waiting game continues.
