Tony Romo Injury: How Is Fantasy Stock of Dallas Cowboys Offense Affected?

Many Dallas Cowboy fans—and more than few fantasy owners and NFL fans in general—have been wondering if Dallas might be more effective without Tony Romo at quarterback.

When Romo went down with a rib injury in the first half, Dallas fans got their wish.

It wasn't pretty.

Jon Kitna came in and promptly threw two interceptions, and for a while it looked like the Cowboys were going to drop their second straight game. In Kitna's defense, wide receiver Dez Bryant was out, running back Felix Jones was in and out with a right arm injury and Jason Witten was banged up as well.

Still, when Romo returned the offense woke back up and he brought his team back from a deficit, forcing overtime and winning the game.

He looked pretty good doing it to boot.

So what happens when Romo goes down? What would happen if the naysayers got their way and Romo went down again permanently?

It may not be as clear as it appeared this week.

When Kitna took over last season, he had the full compliment of studs as well as Roy Williams (for what little that's worth). This year, he came in with far fewer weapons.

On the other hand, he was coming in against the San Francisco 49ers, not the New York Giants.

The point is, Kitna isn't the answer even if he acclimated himself well last season.

Meanwhile Romo, despite his fan-killing turnovers and inability to win playoff games, is able to get his players the ball, thereby giving their owners plenty of fantasy production.

Kitna had five games last year where his production was under 200 yards over the span of 10 games. Romo had three the whole of 2009.

With Kitna under center, Miles Austin had only one 100 yard game and scored only five times over the course of 10 games, two in one game. Jason Witten was a little better with one 100-yard game and several 95-yard-plus games, as well as a nice streak of games with a touchdowns to finish the season.

Felix Jones was a little inconsistent and underutilized due to the team trailing, but often made up for it with catches.

All three underperformed where they should have been with Romo under center.

I think it's a shaky bet to have anyone under center other than Romo.

The fact is that while Romo isn't a great NFL quarterback, he's just fine for fantasy purposes and is a better asset to the owners of Witten, Austin, Bryant and Jones than Kitna or Stephen McGee.

With all the other choices, you are probably looking at a dip in production.

Breathe a sigh of relief, as Romo doesn't seem to be missing any time.