Tony Romo Suffers A Serious Back Injury, Expected to Miss Significant Time

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suffered a significant injury to his back during Thursday’s preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. The quarterback is expected to miss a significant amount of time, according to team sources who spoke to ESPN. The same source told ESPN that the injury — suffered on the third play against the Seahawks — is a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra. Romo was hit from behind by Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril while scrambling upfield in the preseason game. Romo immediately reached for his lower back but was able to walk off the field under his own power. The veteran signal-caller even lobbied his head coach to try to get back into the game. But Jason Garrett stuck with youngster Dak Prescott.

Romo Becoming Injury Prone

Tony “Mr. Glass” Romo will be trying to rehab his third major injury in the last three years. Initially, Romo’s diagnosis was mostly positive. But as more time passed since the hit, his prognosis has gotten worse. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Romo could miss half the season. CBS Sports is reporting Romo could miss 10 weeks. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones described the loss of Romo as “a punch to the gut.” [Jones] told the Dallas Morning News the team is open to the possibility of acquiring another quarterback. He added that Romo is intent on not seeing a repeat of 2015 play out.

Because of the injury, have NFL fans seen the last of Tony Romo as the Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback?

Stephen Jones, Executive Vice President, CEO, and Director of Player Personnel of the Cowboys told the media, “He’s driven for this not to be like last year,” Jones said. “He’s certainly not deterred, and he really feels like it’s going to be different, but he can get through this, and he also feels very confident that our team can win football games without him while he’s not here.