In his latest edition of “Monday Morning Quarterback,” Peter King of SI.com discussed Tony Romo’s health status for Week 11.
I think this is Romo’s health status as of this morning: Talked to Romo on Saturday, while he was on his final two days off of a bye week, and he told me, naturally, that he would definitely play against Washington on Sunday night at FedEx Field. But it sounded like he’d be affected by his partially healed broken right pinky finger. The break is just below the top knuckle on his right little finger, and he’ll play with a splint on it.
“It won’t be all the way healed,” he said. “It’s still probably a good two or three weeks away from that. I don’t know where it’s exactly going to be, healing-wise, in Washington, but my timing will be fine.”
The key is whether Romo will be able to throw a hard 15-yard out. Any quarterback who can’t throw a liner to the sidelines is going to be a detriment. “I had to throw one of those this week,” he said. “I’m not going to lie to you. There was pain when I threw it. But I can take the pain. If I’ve done it once, I can do it again.” Romo also told me the finger “has gotten healthy enough so I could take a hit on it.”
We’ll see.
Dallas-Washington, with huge playoff implications, is a pretty big game. Dallas-Washington, with a marquee quarterback an injury risk, with the eyes of the nation on him, makes it a compelling watch.
I think expecting Romo to light up on Sunday night would be unrealistic. He’s going to struggle and I think the Cowboys will too, although they need him to play. Brad Bollinger (that’s not a mistake) is/are awful and if Dallas has any hope in turning around their season they need Romo on the field.
Just don’t expect that the Cowboys’ offense will run like it did before he was hurt. If Dallas is going to turn around its season, it will need the defense to step up big time.
