The Dallas Cowboys didn't receiver positive news when they discovered that defensive end Marcus Spears tore cartilage in his right knee during his first workout of training camp on Saturday. He will be having arthroscopic knee surgery on Sunday, which will keep him out of action for three weeks. He should be ready by the start of the regular season, but that's not the point, as the coach says:

"The problem with that is that he misses all of the work and he needs it badly," said Bill Parcells.

Spears, the Cowboys' first-round draft pick from last season, had numerous knee, ankle, and calf problems last year during training camp that kept him from becoming a starter to begin the season.

"It could always be worse," said Spears. "Fortunately it's something that won't keep me down long. We can go ahead and do the surgery because it's needed. You get this problem taken care of and you don't have to worry about it down the road...It's tough, man, because I don't want to miss. That's my big thing. That's the thing that bothered me at first because last year I missed camp a lot. But going into this year, I kind of know the defense that we're playing, I know my role, so that'll help me out."

Besides Spears, the Cowboys are dealing with the injury to left tackle Flozell Adams. Adams failed his conditioning test Friday due to knee surgery he had back in October. As a result, he was placed on the physically unable to perform list.

"I just don't want to put him at risk right now because he's an important player for us," Parcells said.

Thankfully for the Cowboys though, the injuries will not take too long to heal for both players.