Green, Brown fill in for injured Cowboys starters Smith, Scandrick

Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith sat out Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Bears with a back injury that surfaced during Friday’s practice.

Cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who has been battling hamstring issues, also skipped the game at AT&T Stadium.

Swing tackle Chaz Green made his first career start in place of Smith. Green filled in for five plays for Smith in the season opener against the New York Giants — the game in which Smith went to the sidelines with a stinger issue.

It’s unknown whether Smith’s back issue is related to the stinger. But the Cowboys have confidence in Green, who is a second-year veteran from Florida.

“The fact that he had what they call position flex or played almost every position on the offensive line other than center, played a little center in college, gives me a little comfort, and we’ve moved him around which is a little inordinate,” owner Jerry Jones said. “This is the equivalent of his rookie season because he came in last year and didn’t get much work.

“I think that I expect him to hold his own. When he got in a few plays in Tyron’s absence a few weeks ago, I think he did pretty well.”

Smith started 55 straight games at left tackle for the Cowboys going into Sunday’s game. The last contest he didn’t start was Week 11 in 2012, and he also missed a game in 2012 with an ankle injury.

Smith started every game for the Cowboys as a rookie in 2011, and also the past three seasons from 2013-15. Now in his sixth season, Smith is a three-time Pro Bowler and gives the Cowboys lots of comfort when they run to his side of the line.

“Tyron is probably considered the best offensive lineman in the league, and, so, of course that’s saying a lot,” Jones said. “If [Green is] struggling, then we’ll move some guys in, kind of mix them up a little bit.

“If you lose one, you like to replace it with one. If you start moving people around, then you move two positions or you move three positions, so you don’t want to get in that spot, but it’s doable.”

Smith was flagged early in Sunday’s game for a holding penalty.

Scandrick, meanwhile, was questionable all week and complained about his struggles in trying to play through the injury. Anthony Brown started in Scandrick’s place.

“He has just been really eye-catching for us,” Jones said of Brown. “He came from Purdue, he played well for us in preseason games.

“Has earned the right to step in here in Scandrick’s absence. So, I do expect him to play well and they’ll obviously pick on him. They know how to find those guys who haven’t played in that secondary.”

Tony Romo, Darius Jackson, Kavon Frazier, Mark Nzeocha and Charles Tapper were also inactive for the Cowboys.

On the Bears’ side, quarterback Jay Cutler was inactive as expected and Brian Hoyer started in his place.

Williams’ struggles

This has been a weird season for Cowboys wide receiver Terrance Williams.

Prior to Sunday’s game, the last time Williams did anything of significance was during the team’s season-opening 20-19 loss to the New York Giants.

In that contest, Williams was best known for not getting out of bounds on the game’s last play after he made a reception. The Cowboys snapped the ball with 12 seconds left in that game — they had no timeouts left — and would have been in position for reliable Dan Bailey to kick a game-winning field goal inside of 60 yards if Williams had gotten out of bounds.

Following that performance by Williams, he wasn’t even targeted during last week’s 27-23 win over Washington. Then on Sunday, Williams fell back into the mistake business.

After making three receptions for 41 yards in the first half, Williams caught a crossing pass from quarterback Dak Prescott and weaved his way to the Chicago 16.

Unfortunately for Williams, he was stripped of the ball by Jacoby Glenn following a gain of 47 yards, and Adrian Amos recovered for the Bears. Chicago proceeded to march downfield for a touchdown and get within 24-10 of the Cowboys with 7:08 remaining in the third quarter.

A win at home

After more than a year, Cowboys fans finally went home from a home game with a smile on their face.

Sunday’s victory marked the first time the Cowboys won a home game since a season-opening 27-26 victory over the New York Giants on Sept. 13, 2015. Following that victory, the Cowboys dropped eight straight home games and entered Sunday’s contest with the longest home losing streak in the NFL.

But Sunday, Cowboys fans finally had something to smile about on their way home.

Special guests

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who coached Prescott in college, and rapper 50 Cent attended Sunday’s game.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 12:14 AM with the headline "Green, Brown fill in for injured Cowboys starters Smith, Scandrick."