A State of Romo

Tony Romo took three snaps in the third preseason game for the Dallas Cowboys before injuring himself, again.

At the age of 36 Tony Romo is entering the fourteenth season of his career or he would be if he was in better health. Two back surgeries and a multitude of clavicle injuries Tony Romo is looking less like an nfl quarterback and more like a thrift store terminator. You would think that after all of the injuries Tony Romo has faced that Jason Garrett and the rest of the Cowboy’s staff would be more wise about starting their aging quarterback in games that don’t matter, but then again it is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys sifted through a multitude of mediocre backup QB’s last season and only won a single game with names like Matt Castle and Brandon Weeden.
There is a bit of a bright spot in the future of the Dallas Cowboys and it comes in the form of their fourth round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, and his name is Dak Prescott. Dak Has been incredibly impressive in his first three preseason games as an NFL rookie QB. He’s completed 38 of 46 passes with 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions with a passer rating of 137.8. But the vanilla scheme defenses of the preseason are a completely different beast to the complex blitzes and zones of regular season first team defenses. That being said the preseason is the best indicator of how young players will preform under the bright lights of an NFL stadium and crowd.
Tony is projected to be out with this injury for 6 to 10 weeks that means Dak will most likely start 4 or 5 games for the Cowboys. And if Dak plays well enough there is a chance for him to take the starting job from the older injury prone Romo like Tom Brady did to Drew Bledsoe back in 2003 then led the patriots to their first Super Bowl. This is not one of those situations. Dak will play well enough to win 2 or 3 games keeping Dallas fans day-dreaming with what could be in the next few years with the tandem of Elliot and Prescott. When Tony Romo comes back from his injury he will regain his starting job and have another pro bowl caliber season behind the best offensive line in all of football. What makes this situation different from the Patriot Dynasty of the early 2000’s is that Romo has shown no signs of decline like Bledsoe did before being injured. Brady was drafted to be Bledsoe’s eventual replacement while Dak on the other hand was drafted just so the Cowboys could be secure at backup quarterback because Romo is so prone to injury. And almost like clockwork Romo is out for another chunk of the season and Prescott is left to fend for himself, hopefully playing well enough to keep the sweat off of Jerry Jone’s brow and win a few games.

Illustration by Cameron Frazier