Dallas Cowboys Should Think Long-Term With Tony Romo

By Kelly Anderson on October 31, 2014

There is absolutely no reason why the Dallas Cowboys should play Tony Romo this weekend or even the next for that matter. Yes, he is clearly the leader of this team and everyone seems to rally around and respect him, but that is the very reason why he should rest.

No one pays any attention to you when you are on the injured reserve list; it’s nothing personal, it’s just that during the season, players can only focus on who will be on the field with them and what their assignments will be for a particular game. And your words and actions carry more weight when you are on the field of battle with your brethren.

Now all reports out of Valley Ranch say that Romo will be just fine and that it’s mainly an issue with pain tolerance at this point, but we all know that the human body naturally adjusts to help you ease the pain you are experiencing. So if Romo goes out and tries to take snaps, bend over, throw the ball, escape the rush, etc., then he will naturally adjust his motion or body torque to lessen the pain. And when you do these things, you generally find yourself putting your body in unnatural positions and therefore causing even more damage to yourself.

The Cowboys should count their blessings that it’s just a deep bone bruise and that his disc didn’t get damaged with that knee to the back. They should take these next three weeks with games against the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars and a bye week to rest the star of their franchise.

The Cardinals are playing well now and this Sunday’s game can carry some weight in regards to who has home-field advantage later on in the playoffs, but they aren’t all of a sudden world beaters; plus, the game is in Dallas and the Cowboys have more than enough weapons in DeMarco Murray, Dez Bryant and company to carry Brandon Weeden through a game or two. Up next for them would be Jacksonville and they barely have one win this season and they are starting a rookie quarterback. That game will be in London and will essentially act as another home game for the Cowboys as no one in England has ever even heard of Jacksonville. And based off of the infamous television show, they are all probably just showing up in hopes that J.R. Ewing will be on the sideline.

Having made many overseas trips myself, trust me when I say the last thing Romo needs is a nine-hour flight from Dallas to London with a balky back. Jason Garrett needs to step up and make the smart decision to let his quarterback properly heal so that they can make the long run in the playoffs that they are so dangerously close to having.

Kelly Anderson is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bgipp01 or add him to your network on Google.