AUSTIN, Texas - Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle Mark Tuinei might miss the next two to four weeks with a sprained right knee, the club learned yesterday.However, the two-time Pro Bowler "has a good shot" of rehabilitating the injury in time to play in the Cowboys' season opener Sept. 2 in Chicago, team trainer Jim Maurer said.
No surgery is planned.
"I'm confident that I'll be able to come back from this," said Tuinei, who turned 36 in March. "It won't heal as fast as it would if I was 26, because you've got to consider age. But I'm fortunate the injury was to my medial collateral ligament instead of my anterior cruciate ligament. I'll get a brace on the knee and it will hold tight so I can play in the first game."
It was a solemn coach Barry Switzer who, upon learning of Tuinei's grade-three sprain, called the Cowboys' injury situation the worst it has been since he has been the team's coach. Tuinei is the seventh Cowboys starter to miss significant playing time this summer because of injury.
"I haven't faced this kind of injury situation in the three years I've been here," Switzer said. "This is not what we wanted to hear. It will affect us tremendously."
Tuinei returned from Dallas to the club's training camp headquarters at St. Edward's University yesterday after a magnetic resonance imaging exam was done to determine the extent of his injury, which he sustained Monday in a 31-7 preseason loss to the New England Patriots. Maurer said Tuinei will work on strengthening exercises during the first week of his rehabilitation. After that, he will be "on a week-to-week basis."
Replacing Tuinei at left tackle will be Larry Allen, Switzer said.