Despite Jerry Jones' confidence and near guarantee that both tackle Marc Colombo and guard Kyle Kosier will be back from their injuries in time for the Sept. 12 season opener at Washington, the Cowboys owner can't beat science.
Colombo probably will be ready after arthroscopic surgery to remove five particles from his right knee. But Kosier could miss the first two games and might be out until after the Cowboys' bye week in Week 4 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
An MRI confirmed the injury to Kosier, who went down Wednesday while practicing at center. A Cowboys source said there is little chance he will be ready for the opener and that they were preparing for him to miss at least two games.
Jones was much more confident Wednesday not long after Kosier went down.
"I'm concerned but the good news is they will be back for the season opener," Jones said. "Four to six weeks is being conservative. We will get them back for the season opener. That is not looking through rose-colored glasses. That is fact."
The good news for the Cowboys is they have confidence that veteran Montrae Holland can handle the job in Kosier's absence. Holland is an eight-year veteran with 48 career starts, but he was inactive all last season because he didn't give the Cowboys the game-day flexibility of being able to play more than one position.
"We have a lot of confidence -- I do -- in Holland," Jones said. "That's why he is here."
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