Mickey Spagnola Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Romo Must Give Cowboys A Hand

By Mickey Spagnola

IRVING, Texas – Let’s make no bones about this:

If Tony Romo is unable to play or if he is severely limited in Sunday night’s NFC East Division title game, the Dallas Cowboys have no shot at defeating the New York Giants.

None.

So this must come as if Christmas music to everyone’s ears when on Wednesday afternoon not only did Romo practice with the Cowboys, albeit on a limited basis according to the official NFL practice report, but there also was this when asked if he expected to play in the 7:20 p.m. (CST) kickoff at MetLife Stadium:

“Yeah, I expect to play.”

And he said that with no hesitation and a good measure of enthusiasm.

Just what you guys wanted to hear. No one ever wants to go out to dinner without their meal ticket, and certainly if the Cowboys are to defeat the New York Giants this second time around to win the NFC East they need Romo at the top of his game.

What he said and how much he was able to do this first day of practice must be considered encouraging news after Romo broke blood vessels on the back of his right (throwing) hand on the final play from scrimmage during the Cowboys’ first offensive possession Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in the eventual 20-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The broken blood vessels immediately caused excessive swelling on the back of his throwing hand, sending him to the stadium X-ray room to see if anything was broken from his hand hitting the top of the on-rushing Jason Babin’s helmet. X-rays were negative, and so have been several ensuing photographic tests, giving the Cowboys quarterback confidence he will be able to play Sunday against the equally 8-7 Giants in a game to break the first-place deadlock in the East.

Maybe even more encouraging, had the Giants lost earlier in the day on Saturday, affording the Cowboys an opportunity to wrap up the NFC East crown with a victory over Philadelphia, there is a very good chance Romo would have been allowed to re-enter the game. But since that chance did not exit, the Cowboys pulled the plug on Romo, much to his protestations, wanting him to be as healthy as possible for this Sunday night’s showdown.

“It’s improving day by day,” Romo said on his conference call with media members covering the Giants. “I was able to do some things with the ball we weren’t sure about.”

That was a good sign, because as swollen as Romo’s hand was on Saturday, throwing the ball by Wednesday sure seemed iffy. But Romo was able to throw the ball on Wednesday in practice, and with a decent amount of authority and accuracy.

He did wear a glove on his right hand in the earliest portions of practice, but for the most part the glove was part of the compression treatment being used to help reduce the swelling, along with a good measure of icing the hand and also keeping it elevated as much as possible. If there is any sort of blessing, it centers on when Romo sustained the injury. Since the Cowboys played on Saturday, he actually will have seven days between games, and doctors after the game thought that would be more than enough time for the swelling to sufficiently subside.

“I’m not anticipating playing with a glove on,” Romo said.

Even the always cautious Jason Garrett seemed somewhat encouraged by Romo’s progress in the now four days since suffering the injury against the Eagles.

“He was able to do some things in practice and was limited in other areas,” said Garrett, probably referring to Romo mostly taking shotgun snaps to avoid putting undo pressure snaps from under center would cause to the back of his right hand and also taking a reduced amount of snaps for precautionary reasons. “We’ll see how it progresses as the week goes on.

“He still has some swelling in his hand, and that’s the biggest issue, trying to get the swelling out, and I think that will help him be more functional in his hand.”

Maybe the best endorsement of being on the mend came from Cowboys wide receiver Laurent Robinson.

“Man, he looked good,” Robinson said of Romo’s first time throwing in practice since bruising his right hand. “Lot of speed on the ball, I couldn’t even tell he was hurt.”

That’s important, because the formula for beating the Giants obviously is throwing the ball, and the Cowboys did a darn good job of that the first time around, even though they came up short, 37-34, having the game-tying field-goal attempt blocked as time was running out.

In that game Romo completed 21 of 31 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns, finishing with a 141.3 QB rating, his second highest of the season (148.4 vs. Buffalo). And while everyone seems to remember the Cowboys squandering a 34-22 lead in the final 5:41 of the game, don’t forget this:
After Brandon Jacobs scored the touchdown giving the Giants a 37-34 lead, there still were 46 seconds remaining in the game when the Cowboys took over from their own 20. And darn if in three passing plays – two to Miles Austin and one to Felix Jones – Romo didn’t drive the Cowboys 51 yards, down to the Giants 29 when he spiked the ball to stop the clock with six seconds remaining.

Also, let’s not forget rookie Dan Bailey made the 47-yard attempt only to discover Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had called time out just prior to the snap, forcing a re-kick, which of course was blocked by Jason Pierre-Paul to seal the victory for the Giants.

So here they go, having to do it all over again, and on this coming Sunday, that first game and whatever transpired mattering not. It’s all about Sunday, and just how much Romo is able to do with a hand that swelled up like a water balloon on Christmas Eve.

“You got to keep grinding away,” Romo said, “and try to win the division.”

With all the healthy hands they have on deck.