“It’s always a balancing act. It’s always has been about how much you play guys to get them ready for the season versus putting them in a situation where they expose themselves to injury,” Garrett said. “We believe it’s important to play guys at some point in the preseason to get them ready for regular-season action. We feel like they’re more compromised in the regular season if they don’t play at all in the preseason.”nfl nike jerseys cheap china

When the Cowboys learned of the Guillain-Barre syndrome diagnosis of Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick on Wednesday, they knew he was not going to play Sunday. They know Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin will not play because of a bruised knee suffered in last week’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Without those two, why risk playing Elliott and Prescott?

Elliott did not play in either of the first two preseason games. The Cowboys have followed the same plan they used in the running back’s first two seasons, when he played only a handful of snaps in the third preseason game and shut it down until the regular season. LaDainian Tomlinson would not play in the preseason. As Emmitt Smith’s career went along, he did not play before the regular season, either.

“We’ll certainly take that into account when Jason decides who should be out there in terms of the risk/reward of what we get there,” executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “And as we’ve said, this is a long season and every player is looked at differently in terms of where he is health-wise.

“If a guy has got a strain, a groin strain or a hamstring or something like that, then we’re going to err on the side of being conservative. We got to get everybody, as much as we can, ready for that first game.”cheap nike nfl jerseys from china

Prescott has played 39 preseason snaps so far. He has completed 13 of 18 passes for 125 yards and two touchdown passes. Heading into the 2017 season, he played 49 snaps.

“It’s been good work for him. He seems comfortable and confident out here,” Garrett said. “He moved the ball in those four drives with the ones. We scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal. He has been productive.”

He also has been sacked twice with his line mostly intact. Without Frederick and Martin, the Cowboys would go with Joe Looney and Kadeem Edwards at center and right guard.

In 2010, the Cowboys had Tony Romo play 10 snaps in the second preseason game with Robert Brewster as his right tackle. Brewster, a third-round pick in 2009, did not play his rookie year because of an injury and never played an offensive snap in a regular-season game before his release.