Tony Romo: How a Clavicle Fracture Helps the Dallas Cowboys

In last night's loss to the New York Giants, Giants linebacker Michael Boley came exploding into the backfield and hit Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

As Romo fell, his arm pinned underneath him and broke his left collarbone.

The night started out looking promising for the Cowboys. They were up 10-7 and everything was clicking.

They were looking like they could easily stay in stride for the rest of the game, and were going to remove themselves from the hole that had been dug from poor performances early in the season. But now everything within the Cowboys organization is looking bleaker than ever.

Making the playoffs this season sounds like a pipe dream, and because of this most recent injury to Tony Romo, it probably is.

The year, realistically, is over for Romo. He will miss six to eight games, bringing him back sometime between Week 13 and 15 if all goes well, to a team that will not be playing past Week 17. The best-case scenario is he is back in four weeks, which is unlikely.

This injury to Romo, however, will give the Cowboys a chance to analyze their team closely, and, in a league where parity reigns supreme, give them a chance to recuperate for next season.

Here are a few things that the Cowboys can figure out or do in the absence of Romo.

Did the Offense Create Tony Romo?

This is not to say that Romo isn't an adept quarterback. The reality is that the offense could have made the Pro Bowler look better than he actually is.

Since his insertion into the starting role, Romo has had receiving corps featuring Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, Patrick Crayton, Miles Austin, Roy Williams and Dez Bryant; quality that any quarterback would be happy to have.

He has also shared the backfield with Julius Jones, Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice, who have combined every year for at least 1,500 yards.

The type of dynamic offense that Romo has always been involved is constantly playing against defenses that are stretched too thin as they attempt to compensate for all of Dallas' game changing players.

Now, when they are forced to start 38-year-old Jon Kitna, they can see if it is their offense that has created the monster of Tony Romo.

Kitna was the product of a wide receiver-laden offense not too long ago, as he tallied 4,000 yards with Detroit in 2006 and 2007 with Roy Williams, Mike Furrey, Shaun McDonald and Calvin Johnson. He posted up QB ratings of 79.9 and 89.9 throughout these years. It was an offense in which any decent QB would have had good numbers.

Now, if Kitna comes in and continues to move the offense down the field effectively, the debate is stronger against Romo that he is a product of a stacked offense.

Focus on Other Problems

The No. 1 problem in Dallas this year has been penalties.

Holding, unsportsmanlike conduct, personal fouls, excessive celebration, pass interference—you name it, it has ruined a drive or even a game for the Cowboys this year.

If this kind of play continues at a time where the Cowboys will be out of playoff contention, head coach Wade Phillips can discipline his players effectively with bench time and suspension.

If he found himself in the midst of a playoff race, he would be unable to bench a lineman after too many holding calls, or a cocky receiver after a beef-headed excessive celebration call, or a jacked-up cornerback after hitting someone out of bounds.

This injury to Romo gives Phillips a game to blame for the complete downturn of the season and take complete control of what his team is doing on the field.

If Phillips takes over and starts to discipline his players, he could end up keeping his job, but if he doesn't...

Fire Wade Phillips

Discipline starts with the head coach and permeates through the rest of the team. Phillips is a far too relaxed coach to be in charge of so many talented, yet over-amped players.

If he lets games continue to go in the direction that they have gone, with his team racking up penalties, then he could see his team drop as many as 12 games this season.

Jerry Jones is not one to be happy with finishing 4-12, and that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back when it comes to Phillips' coaching career in Dallas.