Dez Bryant got a stem-cell injection in his ankle, Jerry Jones says

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Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was given an injection of stem cells to accelerate the healing process in his broken right foot.

Bryant, who has been out since the team’s Sept. 13 opener, received an injection of stem cells from the bone marrow in his hip, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

“It will do two things,” Jones said (via DallasNews.com) of the procedure, which was performed in Colorado. “It has the potential to improve the healing time but more important gives him and everyone more confidence that when he comes back, at whatever the time is, it will be sounder and I think that was the overriding reason for doing it.

“It will be sounder even if he kept the same time frame. It could easily speed it up, but if not, what you’re always going to be worried about [is] if you wait another week maybe you’ve got less chance of reinjuring it or basically rushing it. That will give us more peace of mind on rushing it.”

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The stem cells were injected in Bryant’s ankle and, in surgery performed the day after his injury, Bryant also had a bone graft to repair a fractured fifth metatarsal bone on the outside of his foot.

“He’s shown exceptional in his healing,” Jones said. “I feel the procedure and how he’s doing gives us a good feeling that if we feel like he can handle the sensitivity then you feel like you aren’t being too aggressive in letting him get back out there. That’s the big thing.”

With his Cowboys at 2-3, Jones is beyond eager to get Bryant back on the field and the team hopes he’ll be ready by the Oct. 25 game against the New York Giants. The Cowboys’ loss to the Patriots sapped Jones of his sunny attitude about his team.

“We’re not a good team right now,” Jones said (via Star-Telegram.com). “They were a much better team than we were out here today, a much better team. But lesser teams win ballgames. But they’re just a better team. They’re something for us to achieve. I think what we saw out there today was what New England was, more than what Dallas was not.

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“We’ve got to get to be a better team overall, a better football team, a better everything.”

And that starts with getting Bryant back on the field ASAP, even if the quarterback is Brandon Weeden and not Tony Romo. The team hopes Romo, who is out with a broken collarbone, will be back for the Nov. 22 game against the Miami Dolphins.

“I don’t know that nine wins can get you in the tournament, and so, however you want to count them up,” Jones said. “We really do need to get to playing better than we’re playing. If we don’t do that, then no matter how good we might get relative to right now, it’ll be too late.”