Tony Romo: His 'Heroic' Return Should Scare Dallas Cowboys Fans

What most see when looking at Tony Romo’s return and his subsequent leading of the Cowboys over the 49ers in overtime Sunday is the heroic coming-out party of a man finally showing he has what it takes.

What I see, when I look at a player who has suffered season-ending or threatening injuries in two of his last three starts, is a ticking time bomb that will likely leave the Cowboys out in the cold come January.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the next cold-weather Super Bowl won’t be until 2014.

My goal is not to take anything away from the performance Romo put on Sunday. The man took a hard hit, fractured a rib, punctured a lung and still returned to the field. One has to wonder what trainer he had to bribe to pull that one off.

But Romo’s grit, passion for the game and sheer will is not at question here—his body is. Quarterbacks take hits; that, my friends, is one of the few truths in this world.

Sometimes those hits are massive; sometimes those hits are cheap; sometimes those hits will cost you a season—if not a career. For Romo, the trend is leaning toward the fact that he simply cannot stand up to the beating he signed up for when he inked his NFL contract.

Similar to Michael Vick this week, now that he has shown a propensity for debilitating pain after big hits, teams will simply target him all the more intensely.

All one has to do is look at some of the late hits on Vick to know there is a strategy going into that. While it may seem cheap, Mike Kafka coming into a close game on a Sunday night and throwing his first career pass sounds well worth the 15-yard roughing penalties.

That was the biggest reason the Falcons won, or should I say their game plan proved to be effective.

Continuing to use Vick as an example here, one simply has to look at the hit Eli Manning took in the last preseason to see that Vick—much like Romo—can’t stand up to the beating like a larger, tougher QB.

Now I am not by any means calling Manning “tough,” but he does have the longest consecutive starts streak in the NFL. That must count for something.

Also, take a look at the video. Manning was whipped around almost exactly like Vick was, but the difference? Manning had already lost his helmet.

Vick left with a concussion, spitting blood as he trotted off the field. (Where was his mouthpiece by the way?)

Manning left—to go get stitches.

Such is life for an NFL quarterback. If you can’t roll with the hits, you will be deflated—pun definitely intended, Tony.

Jerry Jones should take a serious look into a first-round QB in the upcoming draft.

This season is lost in that regard, but next time Romo goes down—and he will—do the Cowboy faithful a favor, and don’t parade a washed up Jon Kitna onto the field.