Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford has shoulder surgery

Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford had surgery on his right shoulder Thursday.

Crawford, 26, injured the rotator cuff in his right shoulder in Week 2 at Philadelphia, and acknowledged the possibility of surgery after Sunday’s regular-season finale. The injury was bothersome enough that there were times when Crawford had to brush his teeth with his opposite hand in the morning.

Crawford posted a tweet following surgery Thursday afternoon, saying it went well.

"Surgery went great," Crawford wrote on his account, @TCrawford98. "Life is great! Thanks for the prayers #CowboysNation!"

Crawford played every game, although it limited his ability on the field to make as much as an impact as expected from the three-technique position.

“It was difficult,” Crawford said of playing with the injury following the Cowboys’ regular-season finale. “But it wasn’t like I didn’t want to be out there with my guys.

“They had talked to me midseason and told me the situation and I still wanted to be out there. I didn’t want to be off the field. I tried not to use it as an excuse, and just tried to get better and better every game.”

Crawford, a 2012 third-round pick out of Boise State, finished the season with a career-high 44 tackles, according to the coaches’ breakdown, as well as a career-high five sacks. He also had two tackles for loss, 27 quarterback pressures and one pass deflection.

Still, it wasn’t the kind of season he or the organization hoped for after reaching a five-year, $45 million extension in September. The Cowboys went 4-12, and the defense combined only three more sacks than in 2014.

“We’re not that team. We have too much talent on this team to only have four wins,” Crawford said. “It’s just unacceptable. We need to do a lot better.”

That includes Crawford himself, and he is confident that he will come back better next season.

“I’m going to bounce back,” Crawford said. “It’s not going to take me long.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford has shoulder surgery."