IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys do not believe Miles Austin's strained hamstring is as serious as the hamstring injuries that have limited the wide receiver in each of the past two seasons.
The Cowboys will be cautious this week with Austin, who suffered the injury in Sunday's 31-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams, and will see how he feels Wednesday before determining if he will practice.
"We just want to see what his progress is day to day," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "We don't think it's a severe hamstring injury, but we'll take his injury day to day and see how he progresses as the week goes on."
Austin missed six games in 2011 and was limited at times last season despite playing in every game.
Austin strained his left hamstring in the third quarter Sunday on a deep throw from Tony Romo. After the game, Garrett said Austin could have returned if the Rams had come back. Dallas had a 24-0 lead at the time of the injury.
"We just want to be smart with him and really with any of our players," Garrett said. "There is a little bit of a history there. We want to see what we've done in the past and how we've done things well and maybe not so well and make sure we handle it the right way this time."
Austin was able to make it through training camp and the preseason without any hamstring trouble. He spent the offseason going through different stretching programs and even slightly altered his running style to help alleviate the issue. Garrett rested Austin a handful of times over the summer as well.
If Austin cannot play next Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, rookie Terrance Williams would move into the starting lineup and Dwayne Harris would assume the No. 3 role.
Meanwhile, Dallas' top receiver, Dez Bryant, said his back is still sore, but that it felt significantly better than a week ago.
The sore back, which Bryant strained in the Sept. 15 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, did not limit him Sunday against St. Louis.
Bryant said he would continue to receive treatment on the back, including electrical stimulation, and wasn't certain if he would practice Wednesday. He sat out the Wednesday practice and was limited for the Thursday practice last week.
"I'm going to stay on it," said Bryant, who caught four passes for 38 yards and a touchdown against the Rams. "You mess up when you think it's better and you mess around and tweak it again."
Information from ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.