IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced Friday that quarterback Troy Aikman will be held out of Monday night's game against Washington.
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Aikman, 33 and in his 12th NFL season, won't play as a precaution after he suffered the eighth concussion of his career in Week 1 against Philadelphia. Randall Cunningham will start in Aikman's place for the second consecutive game.
"We made the decision to hold Troy out of Monday night's game in Washington," Jones said in a statement. "This decision was reached after a thorough review of his daily progress throughout the week.
"Troy is healing better, but he understands the precautionary nature of this decision. This decision has been made for this week's game only, and we will proceed accordingly with further evaluation next week."
Dallas plays host to San Francisco on Sunday, Sept. 24.
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Players to wear mikes |
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NEW YORK -- NFL Films will put a small microphone on one player and follow
him with two cameras during the first half of each Monday night
game for a two-minute piece to air at halftime of ABC's telecast.
"We have been miking players for 35 years," NFL Films
president Steve Sabol said Friday. "What makes this unique is the
quick turnaround time and the ability to put it on the air in the
same game."
The feature will be introduced during Monday's game between the
Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. |
Aikman wasn't available in the Cowboys' locker room on Friday,
and didn't attend practice.
His agent, Leigh Steinberg, said Aikman wanted to play but
understood the medical decision.
"There needs to be some period of time after cessation of
symptoms to avoid the concept of second concussion syndrome,"
Steinberg said. "We haven't entered that window evidently from the
doctor's standpoint."
Without being specific, Steinberg indicated that Aikman was
still experiencing some symptoms related to the concussion. Any
symptoms would have made Aikman more susceptible to additional
concussions had he played.
While he said he felt good after practicing twice this week,
Aikman would not say if he still had headaches or any other
lingering symptoms. This concussion came after he was sacked four
times in the 41-14 loss to Philadelphia.
Aikman had said the only reason he wouldn't play was if symptoms
persisted.
Aikman participated in a little more than 50 percent of the snaps at
practice Thursday. He and Cunningham split time equally on Wednesday, the day Aikman made his practice return after suffering the concussion.
The Cowboys asked Aikman to throw more on the run than on
Wednesday and generally tried to make him exert himself more as part of a
test to gauge his recovery.
Aikman on Thursday declined to comment on
whether he still was suffering from concussion symptoms.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss some of the things that I've
experienced or haven't experienced or where I'm at with all of
those things," Aikman said. "Those are things being discussed
with the doctors, and that evaluation process is obviously the
reason why we haven't come to a clear-cut answer yet."
Cunningham completed 24 of 34 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns against
Arizona last week.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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VIDEO
  Coach Dave Campo feels it's in everyone's best interest to sit Troy Aikman for another week. wav: 172 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Emmitt Smith was not surprised by the decision to start Randall Cunningham over Troy Aikman. wav: 163 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Troy Aikman still has concerns in making a decision to play this week. wav: 199 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Troy Aikman feels he is ready to face the Redskins this week. wav: 270 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 |
