FRISCO, Texas – It appears lightning has struck twice for the Cowboys. Or in this case a third time in two seasons as Tony Romo will miss significant time yet again.
The Cowboys starting quarterback has suffered a broken bone in his back after taking an awkward hit he took on the third play of Thursday's preseason game in Seattle.
"We're going to monitor his condition day by day and we'll see how he feels going forward," Garrett said. "There's no timeframe when he's going to return."
Garrett would not speculate if Romo would even miss the Sept. 11 season opener against the Giants, although he said earlier that the Cowboys are expecting the veteran quarterback to come back during the season. Various media reports have Romo missing as much as 10 weeks, although Garrett stuck to his "day-by-day" description.
After spending a few minutes on the ground, Romo was able to walk to the sideline and eventually get a football and start warming back up. He tried to come back on the next series but head coach Jason Garrett reportedly denied his starting quarterback, keeping him out of the game for what was deemed precautionary reasons.
However, when the team returned to Dallas on Friday, Romo continued to have discomfort, leading to an MRI that revealed the fracture late Friday night.
Romo's last three years have included all kinds of injuries, including two broken collarbone injuries last year that kept him out of 12 games completely, with two more in which he left early. In 2014, Romo suffered a broken bone in his back that kept him out for two games and forced him to alter his practice schedule throughout the season. In 2013, Romo missed the final game of the season with a back injury that required offseason surgery.
The Cowboys will now likely look to find another quarterback for the roster, but it seems likely they will insert rookie Dak Prescott into the starting role, however Garrett wouldn't name Prescott the starter for now. [embeddedad0]
Through three preseason games, Prescott has a 137.8 quarterback rating, the highest among any qualified passer in the NFL so far. He's completed 39 of 50 passes for 454 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Prescott has also rushed for two touchdowns on the ground.
The Cowboys also have first-year quarterback Jameill Showers, who has played in the second half of all three preseason games but is expected to get extensive time next Thursday in the final exhibition game against Houston.
