Cowboys stare down bleak prospects without Tony Romo
ARLINGTON, Texas – The Dallas Cowboys have seen five and a half quarters of life without Tony Romo, and the result has been this jarring reality: They won't survive the season without him.
These Cowboys were supposed to be built to be able to win without Romo – and had the potential to be special with him. They had the NFL's best running game, behind a stout offensive line that featured three recent first-round picks and running back DeMarco Murray; and a deep receiving corps headlined by Dez Bryant and a backup quarterback in Brandon Weeden who got to spend extensive time working with the first-team offense through the spring and summer, a luxury most second-stringers never get.
But with Romo sidelined in Sunday's 28-17 loss as he continues to deal with the back injury he suffered Monday against Washington, the Cowboys learned that offense isn't so fearsome without Romo.
That's why when the Cowboys board their chartered American Airlines flight to London on Monday evening, Romo will be there, sore back and all. The Cowboys season, so promising just two weeks ago, depends on it.
"We're betting on him playing," owner Jerry Jones said. "If we didn't think he could play, he wouldn't be on that long plane ride."
In the four quarters without Romo against the Cardinals, and in the quarter and a half or so they played without him on Monday night while he was being examined and receiving a pain killing shot in his back, Weeden led the Cowboys to 14 points – a 25-yard touchdown to Jason Witten against Washington, and a garbage time touchdown in the final minutes of Sunday's game.
Without Romo, the Cardinals could focus their attention toward the Cowboys' biggest threat in Murray, who entered the game with eight consecutive games of rushing for a 100 yards or more.
The lack of a passing threat meant Murray was facing his toughest test of the season. He responded with 79 rushing yards on 19 carries – good, but not good enough against a team as solid as the Cardinals.
Weeden's chemistry with Bryant was particularly absent. Weeden targeted Bryant 10 times against the Cardinals, but it wasn't until passes No. 9 and 10 that they two connected.
"Weeden had some difficulty there, technically … that limited us on being able to get into the end zone at times," Jones, a polite way to say that Weeden completed only 18 of his 33 pass attempts, and threw one of his interceptions in the red zone.
Jones and head coach Jason Garrett said the decision to sideline Romo came down, mostly, to the quarterback's lack of preparation this week. Romo did not practice at all, and spent most of his time getting medical treatment on his back to try to heal what further testing revealed to be two small fractures.
"Without getting any work up to this point, it was a fairly easy decision once we got to game day," Garrett said.
How Romo feels once the team lands in London will determine how much practice time he will get there in preparation for next week's game against Jacksonville. Jones likened Romo's potential timeline to return to that of Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty, who has a similar injury, and missed just one game.
"We are told frankly that with the injury, that it's usually about a week and in most cases can get back the second week," Jones said.
After back-to-back losses, one a heartbreaker and one a confidence-shaker, the Cowboys must know they have no other choice but to bank on Romo's healthy return.
"It makes us really know that we've got a real challenge ahead of us," Jones said. "We also know that circumstances can get better for us, in terms of our ability to have some offensive firepower, for sure, with the return of Tony."
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.