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Romo missed last week's 28-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals after initially suffering the injury in a 20-17 overtime loss to the Washington Commanders.
Romo remains sore and in severe pain. He took a pill before the game to manage the pain before completing 20 of 27 passes for 246 yards with three touchdowns and a sterling quarterback rating of 138.8.
It was important for Romo to get back on the field to help the Cowboys end their two-game losing streak and get to 7-3 before this week's bye.
He is their leader and their inspiration.
“Tony is a competitor,” receiver Dez Bryant said. “And us, talking about our teammates, including myself, whenever you see that it just makes you want to get out there and work just as hard.
“We all know the deal. And a lot of times he plays [in pain] like it doesn’t even faze him. So we’ve just got to try to do that too.”
Tight end Jason Witten has played with Romo since he became the starter in 2006.
He has watched Romo play with a punctured lung and a herniated disc. But even he was amazed.
“It’s unbelievable to do that after one week, and he doesn’t complain,” Witten said. “He just goes to work. He minimized those distractions, and I thought he did a good job coming from that injury, and I think [it] just shows it’s one thing to compete and come back from it, it’s another thing to play as well as he did. I think that shows a lot about what he is and how he prepares and just how much toughness he has.”
Now, the idea of Romo playing hurt has raised questions about the culture of the NFL and whether the Cowboys put him in harm's way by playing him against the Jaguars.
The esteemed New York Times even wrote a scathing article criticizing the NFL and owner Jerry Jones for seemingly forcing Romo to play.
The article quoted doctors who didn't even examine Romo's health issues, which at best is a big no-no in the medical field.
All patients are different. How can you comment on a specific medical case in which you have no intimate knowledge?
Even worse, The New York Times didn't even reference the case of Baylor University quarterback Bryce
Petty, who suffered the same injury in his season opener and returned after one game with no setbacks.
Yet, it was quick to point out that the injury normally takes six to eight weeks to heal, and it quoted a doctor about the experiences of "his" patients.
“I’ve had patients on the floor with this,” said the orthopedist John Bendo, a clinical professor at the New York University Langone Hospital for Joint Disease. “Two weeks later? Romo’s still in a lot of pain. A lot. It’s acute.”
Sounds like a place where they focus on the elderly.
But Bendo was specifically talking about normal patients and not NFL football players who are generally in better shape than those who frequent the New York University Langone Hospital for Joint Disease.
Beyond the obvious differences in physical condition, there is also a certain mentality NFL players like
Romo have when it comes to playing with an injury and through pain.
It's something only an athlete who has been part of a locker room and has a commitment to his teammates can understand, per former Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin.
"I get blown away when people keep asking me, ‘Why is Tony risking this? Why is Tony trying this? Why would he?’” Irvin said before the Jacksonville game. “‘Did you guys ever play football? Do you know what it’s like? Have you ever made a commitment to 52 other men that you’re going to do whatever it takes to be on that football field to accomplish the goal in which you have set?
“If you’ve never made a commitment, man, then I understand why you’re asking me. But if you’ve ever made that commitment, then you wouldn’t be asking that question.”
Irvin, who now works as an analyst for the NFL Network, might as well have been talking to his colleague Adam Schein.
Schein said last week that the Cowboys did Romo a disservice by taking him to London and should protect him from himself.
Romo has made a commitment to his teammates.
But more importantly, he was raised as an NFL pup by Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, who had a mantra of "football players play football in football season."
There is a difference between being tough and putting yourself in harm's way. There is also a difference between playing in pain and putting yourself at risk for further injury.
By all accounts, Romo couldn't hurt himself worse by playing with the injury. Certainly, he would have to manage the pain and function. But it was not a situation where he was chancing his livelihood.
He did see it as an opportunity to help his team and get it out of the doldrums of a two-game losing streak.
Romo just considers it part of doing his job as quarterback, leader and teammate, rather than an obligation to Jones for giving him a $108 million contract extension before last season.
“Our team tries to go out and play,” Romo said. “And I learned, from my coach when I first got here, about playing through stuff and whether you can play and stuff. A lot of guys are banged up, a lot of guys played. At the end of the day, nobody cares when you step on the field. It's all about winning.”
Now Romo has an off week and a chance to heal up before a final stretch run to the playoffs—and possible immortality with a Super Bowl berth.
That is as acute as it can get.
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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