Dez Bryant's Shoes May Have to be Filled by a Couple of Cowboys

Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East, NFL Injuries

Losing Dez Bryant to a season-ending broken right leg is a double blow for Dallas. Not only will the Cowboys be without the explosive receiver who leads them with six touchdown catches despite coming off the bench, they're also minus the rookie who is third in the NFL with a 14.3-yard average on punt returns with two more touchdowns to boot.

"With him out you take a big, explosive player away from us.," said special teams captain Sam Hurd, who'll likely get the first shot to replace Bryant as the No. 3 receiver behind starters Miles Austin and Roy Williams. "This is not the first time he's gone down [Bryant missed most of training camp and the entire preseason with a high ankle sprain]. We filled in those voids then, so we'll do it again."

Hurd has just seven catches for 63 yards so far compared to Bryant's 45 catches for 561 yards. While rookie Bryan McCann took over on punt returns last Sunday at Indianapolis after Bryant went down, it seems that cornerback Terence Newman will get the first crack at the job in Sunday's game with NFC East rival Philadelphia.

Newman has returned just two punts since 2007, but he doesn't lack for confidence.

"I could go out and play center if they asked me to," Newman said.

 

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