Tony Romo Injury: Cowboys Must Be Cautious with Star QB This Season

The Dallas Cowboys were able to get some measure of revenge this week against San Francisco after collapsing against the Jets in Week 1. But Tony Romo’s broken rib was the bigger story after the game and it will be interesting to see how he responds in the coming weeks.

Romo was getting hit all game long by the 49ers and it was in the second quarter, when he took a blindside hit from Carlos Rogers, that he broke one of his ribs.

But the team, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder, is saying that Romo actually suffered two fractured ribs during the game.

To his credit, he was able to return to the game in the third quarter and lead the team to victory after suffering the injuries. But the long-term health of the quarterback has to be taken into account; broken ribs are not something you can just play through.

The ribs are involved in everything you do as a football player. It is going to affect his stamina and breathing and it is going to change the way he throws the ball (though some might argue that is a good thing because he will lose that gunslinger mentality).

The Cowboys have to play it safe with Romo because they saw what life was like last season without him and it got ugly at times. If he has to sit down for three or four games, that would be preferable to him taking another hard shot and having to miss eight games.

But considering how he played at the end of Sunday’s game, and the feeling that he needs to prove something to himself and the rest of his teammates, I would be surprised if Romo did not play next week.

Head coach Jason Garrett is going to have to drag Romo off the field; a pair of cracked ribs likely won’t do the trick. I think it’s a dangerous game, but it all comes down to how Romo feels.

And does anyone really think Romo is going to claim to be anything less than perfect?