Cowboys TE Jason Witten to Miss Week 1 Against New York Giants Due to Spleen Injury?

One of the most frustrating things about playing preseason games in the NFL is the risk of players suffering an injury that may have an impact on the regular season. For the Dallas Cowboys, that’s exactly what happened to Jason Witten during the team’s first preseason game against the Oakland Raiders as the tight end injured his spleen following a vicious hit from Rolando McClain.

Not only is Witten expected to miss the remainder of preseason, but there’s a slight chance he could miss opening day for the Cowboys against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants on September 5 as well. Witten may not need surgery, but the spleen is the type of injury that can become very serious if it isn’t treated properly and the last thing he wants to do is return to the field too soon and have it burst.

Obviously, this is devastating news for Dallas considering Witten has been Tony Romo’s favorite target in the passing game over the last couple of years as the duo ranks fourth when it comes to best completion percentage by a quarterback-tight end duo since 2009 (72.3 percent of Romo’s passes). The Cowboys will need all of the help they can get on offense when they travel to the Meadowlands and if Witten is unable to go–Romo will have to rely even more on Miles Austin and Dez Bryant in the passing game.

Luckily, Witten still has plenty of time to recover–so this is one of those situations that Dallas will have to monitor over the next couple of weeks.