Dallas Cowboys LB Sean Lee does not sound optimistic about his latest injury

Sean Lee needs to wait for the test results, but if his tone and inflection matter his latest hamstring injury is not good.

The veteran linebacker, who has battled injury since before he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 2010, was forced to leave the team’s 24-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks early because that hammy got him again.

“We’ll see where it’s at; get (evaluation) tomorrow from the docs; hopefully, it will be a quick turnaround,” he said after the game. “Obviously very frustrated. Just part of playing football.”

Especially when you’re Sean Lee.

“(The injury) just happened running around and going after the quarterback; just felt something,” Lee said. “Other than the first half of the (first game in Carolina), I felt comfortable and felt like I had my legs under me.”

Lee, whom the team deliberately limited in training camp and the preseason, was held out of most of the fourth quarter of the Cowboys’ win against the New York Giants in Week 2 at AT&T Stadium when the hamstring bothered him. He was listed as a game-time decision to play in Seattle.

Against the Seahawks, he still finished with 11 tackles, one-half of a sack, a tackle for a loss and a quarterback pressure.

He missed most of the fourth quarter, but this time the injury sounds more serious.

“It feels like the same deal but you never know,” he said.

In his place, first round rookie draft pick Leighton Vander Esch saw more time and finished with a game-high 11 tackles, and one tackle for a loss.

Lee, 32, has battled numerous injuries since he arrived to the Cowboys out of Penn State. He has never played all 16 games in season.

And, given the way he sounds after this latest injury, it doesn’t look as if he will appear in all 16 games this season, either.

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 7:57 PM.