KANSAS CITY -- Brian Waters should have felt right at home during his debut for the Dallas Cowboys.

After all, he spent the first 11 seasons of his career with Kansas City and got a warm welcome back to Arrowhead Stadium from the crowd.

“It was definitely a good feeling, but we came here to win a football game,” Waters said. “I didn’t really have time to have too much nostalgia.”

Waters didn’t get a lot of playing time, either. He rotated in at right guard for two series in each half, playing a total of 18 snaps.

That was because Waters has had so little practice time since returning from a one-season sabbatical. After weeks of discussions, he finally signed an incentive-laden one-year deal with the Cowboys on the Tuesday of Week 1. Waters has only had six practices with the team, so coach Jason Garrett wanted to ease the six-time Pro Bowler into the mix.

“I didn’t want to play him too many snaps,” Garrett said. “He did practice the last couple weeks, and he felt good, so we want to get him in there and just get him working. It seemed like he did a good job, and it seemed like he handled the work OK.”

Waters’ analysis of his performance: “Some good. Some bad. Not enough to win.”

The 36-year-old Waters said that he felt fine physically and didn’t have any conditioning issues during the game. If that’s the case, it stands to reason that the rotation at right guard will be short-lived. That should be Waters’ job for good as soon as next week.