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ARLINGTON, Texas — Roughly 10 months after suffering a season-ending back injury against the Washington Commanders, a bone-crushing hit by the Commanders Monday night nearly put quarterback Tony Romo's season and the Dallas Cowboys' hopes hanging the balance once again.
The Cowboys suffered a 20-17 loss in overtime to the Commanders Monday night before 87,055 shocked fans at AT&T Stadium, ending their winning streak at six games.
But the team is just thankful they didn't lose Romo and all but end their season as well.
With seven minutes, 59 seconds left in the third quarter, linebacker Keenan Robinson came in unblocked on a blitz and crumbled a defenseless Romo with an inadvertent knee in the back.
Romo immediately grabbed his back, where he underwent December surgery to repair a herniated disk after last year's game.
Romo didn't move his upper torso for several minutes. The trainers eventually rolled him over before gingerly helping him walk off the field and into the locker room.
Suddenly a pall was cast over the Cowboys (6-2) at the possible death knell of a team that looked to be on the brink of a championship run.
“It just caught me pretty good," Romo said. "I haven’t seen the tape yet, but it felt like some sort of knee or elbow just hit me perfectly in a spot that obviously sends a negative feeling. Even if I hadn’t had back surgery, I would still probably feel that one pretty good. It was just a direct hit right there."
But X-rays came back negative, and Romo talked himself back into the game with one minute, 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Romo was diagnosed with a contusion and took a pain-killing injection before running back on the field to a standing ovation from the fans at AT&T Stadium.
But this would not be a storybook, Willis Reed-esque ending for Romo and the Cowboys.
He was unable to lead the Cowboys to victory on their final drive of regulation or respond when the Commanders got a field goal on the first drive of overtime.
It was the first loss for the Cowboys since a 28-17 setback to the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener.
But they are thankful for dodging a bullet on Romo's health and keeping their big-picture hopes for the season alive.
"When you lose, it is obviously the worst thing you think you go through," Romo said. "We are disappointed about this game. Obviously with the injury aspect of it, you feel like you may have dodged one in that regard. That’s why you do the things you are supposed to, and hopefully you can withstand stuff like that.”
Romo said he will be evaluated again on Tuesday and then get ready for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals (6-1). He doesn't know if he will practice this week.
The fact that he was able to come back on Monday leads him to believe he will be ready go for Arizona.
But there was a time Monday night when the Cowboys didn't know if Romo would be able to make it back.
Owner Jerry Jones acknowledged fearing the worst before he got the word from the Cowboys trainers and doctors.
“It’s a back contusion, obviously, he was back out here," Jones said. "We knew there were no structural issues when they gave him the X-rays. I was very concerned the fact that he laid there as long as he laid there. After we looked at the play and saw that there was a knee kind of to the side of the back, then we felt better about it.
“We got him in here and looked at it real carefully; everybody felt better about it. But he was certainly limited when he first got in here, but he loosened it up real good and went back out.”
Romo returned to the game, even though backup Brandon Weeden acquitted himself very well on two drives, completing four of six passes for 69 yards and leading the Cowboys to 10 points.
The first drive ended with a 21-yard field goal from Dan Bailey before Weeden capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten.
Yet when the Cowboys got the back with 1:52 left in a tie game at 17-17, it was Romo who went back on the field with the offense.
"Brandon did a nice job when he went in there," coach Jason Garrett said. "He handled himself really well. He did a really good job making some big throws for us. The one on our sideline to Terrance. The big throw to [Witten] for the touchdown. He did a really nice job of handling himself well. Obviously Tony’s our quarterback, so if Tony’s healthy and ready to go, he’s going to play."
Romo returned to the game, but he wasn't himself, and the Cowboys had no answers for the Commanders' blitz packages that smothered him with five brutal sacks.
Romo completed 17 of 28 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown in the game but was only four of seven for 27 yards on his final two drives after returning to the game.
Most importantly, the Cowboys, who came into the game No. 1 in the league in third-down efficiency, couldn't convert when it mattered most. The Cowboys were five of 12 on third downs in the game.
Romo was flagged for intentional grounding on third down on the final drive of the fourth quarter before throwing incomplete on third and fourth down in overtime.
Romo said it was the Commanders defense not his injury that proved to be the difference.
“I don’t think it affected it that much," Romo said of his injury. "I think it was their defense on the last series or two that affected it more than anything else. They had the right call on a couple times that took away what we wanted. You have to give them credit; on the key moments they did a pretty good job and we didn’t execute as well as we needed to.”
The Cowboys are disappointed in the loss but thankful they survived the war in terms of Romo's long-term health and their hopes for the season.
Without Romo they had no shot of completing their hot start with a playoff run. Now that his injury is not considered as serious as originally feared, they are just focused on bouncing back next week against the Cardinals.
"We are fortunate that we didn't lose Romo," Jones said. "That's something to be thankful for."
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...
The Cowboys suffered a 20-17 loss in overtime to the Commanders Monday night before 87,055 shocked fans at AT&T Stadium, ending their winning streak at six games.
But the team is just thankful they didn't lose Romo and all but end their season as well.
With seven minutes, 59 seconds left in the third quarter, linebacker Keenan Robinson came in unblocked on a blitz and crumbled a defenseless Romo with an inadvertent knee in the back.
Romo immediately grabbed his back, where he underwent December surgery to repair a herniated disk after last year's game.
Romo didn't move his upper torso for several minutes. The trainers eventually rolled him over before gingerly helping him walk off the field and into the locker room.
Suddenly a pall was cast over the Cowboys (6-2) at the possible death knell of a team that looked to be on the brink of a championship run.
“It just caught me pretty good," Romo said. "I haven’t seen the tape yet, but it felt like some sort of knee or elbow just hit me perfectly in a spot that obviously sends a negative feeling. Even if I hadn’t had back surgery, I would still probably feel that one pretty good. It was just a direct hit right there."
But X-rays came back negative, and Romo talked himself back into the game with one minute, 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Romo was diagnosed with a contusion and took a pain-killing injection before running back on the field to a standing ovation from the fans at AT&T Stadium.
But this would not be a storybook, Willis Reed-esque ending for Romo and the Cowboys.
He was unable to lead the Cowboys to victory on their final drive of regulation or respond when the Commanders got a field goal on the first drive of overtime.
It was the first loss for the Cowboys since a 28-17 setback to the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener.
But they are thankful for dodging a bullet on Romo's health and keeping their big-picture hopes for the season alive.
"When you lose, it is obviously the worst thing you think you go through," Romo said. "We are disappointed about this game. Obviously with the injury aspect of it, you feel like you may have dodged one in that regard. That’s why you do the things you are supposed to, and hopefully you can withstand stuff like that.”
Romo said he will be evaluated again on Tuesday and then get ready for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals (6-1). He doesn't know if he will practice this week.
The fact that he was able to come back on Monday leads him to believe he will be ready go for Arizona.
But there was a time Monday night when the Cowboys didn't know if Romo would be able to make it back.
Owner Jerry Jones acknowledged fearing the worst before he got the word from the Cowboys trainers and doctors.
“It’s a back contusion, obviously, he was back out here," Jones said. "We knew there were no structural issues when they gave him the X-rays. I was very concerned the fact that he laid there as long as he laid there. After we looked at the play and saw that there was a knee kind of to the side of the back, then we felt better about it.
“We got him in here and looked at it real carefully; everybody felt better about it. But he was certainly limited when he first got in here, but he loosened it up real good and went back out.”
Romo returned to the game, even though backup Brandon Weeden acquitted himself very well on two drives, completing four of six passes for 69 yards and leading the Cowboys to 10 points.
The first drive ended with a 21-yard field goal from Dan Bailey before Weeden capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jason Witten.
Yet when the Cowboys got the back with 1:52 left in a tie game at 17-17, it was Romo who went back on the field with the offense.
"Brandon did a nice job when he went in there," coach Jason Garrett said. "He handled himself really well. He did a really good job making some big throws for us. The one on our sideline to Terrance. The big throw to [Witten] for the touchdown. He did a really nice job of handling himself well. Obviously Tony’s our quarterback, so if Tony’s healthy and ready to go, he’s going to play."
Romo returned to the game, but he wasn't himself, and the Cowboys had no answers for the Commanders' blitz packages that smothered him with five brutal sacks.
Romo completed 17 of 28 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown in the game but was only four of seven for 27 yards on his final two drives after returning to the game.
Most importantly, the Cowboys, who came into the game No. 1 in the league in third-down efficiency, couldn't convert when it mattered most. The Cowboys were five of 12 on third downs in the game.
Romo was flagged for intentional grounding on third down on the final drive of the fourth quarter before throwing incomplete on third and fourth down in overtime.
Romo said it was the Commanders defense not his injury that proved to be the difference.
“I don’t think it affected it that much," Romo said of his injury. "I think it was their defense on the last series or two that affected it more than anything else. They had the right call on a couple times that took away what we wanted. You have to give them credit; on the key moments they did a pretty good job and we didn’t execute as well as we needed to.”
The Cowboys are disappointed in the loss but thankful they survived the war in terms of Romo's long-term health and their hopes for the season.
Without Romo they had no shot of completing their hot start with a playoff run. Now that his injury is not considered as serious as originally feared, they are just focused on bouncing back next week against the Cardinals.
"We are fortunate that we didn't lose Romo," Jones said. "That's something to be thankful for."
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Read more Dallas Cowboys news on BleacherReport.com
Continue reading...