IRVING, Texas – The Cowboys received some good news from one MRI Monday and are hopeful for similar news on another later in the evening.
The first sigh of relief throughout the halls of Valley Ranch stemmed from Tony Romo's rib injury, which he suffered in the second quarter Sunday night against the Giants. Two helmets collided in his midsection, forcing him out for a play to regain his breath. After halftime, Romo played the final two quarters but wasn't exactly at 100 percent.
The precautionary MRI revealed no broken ribs, which was the initial fear when Romo was on the ground for a few minutes after taking the shot.
Head coach Jason Garrett was able to reveal the news to the media during his late-afternoon press conference at Valley Ranch.
"I have been told that they are negative which is a positive," Garrett said. "It means they are not broke. that is a good thing."
Garrett didn't seem overly concerned Monday, mainly because he didn't appear to be that worried about his starting quarterback's health on Sunday as well.
"There really was no doubt in my mind he was going to go back and play," Garrett said. "When I heard it was his ribs, I said he will be Ok. Tony just shook it off and came back and played the second half. It's part of the game. Everybody is playing with some kind of nick or bruise. You just fight through it. Tony has a track record of doing that for us and not only fighting through it but playing well with the injury."
At the time of his press briefing, Garrett said Bryant was in the process of getting an MRI on his foot injury, which he suffered late in the fourth quarter. Bryant was able to return to the game and participate on the "hands team" for an onside kick attempt.
"We don't think it's going to be that bad," Garrett said.
One player who could be coming back from his own foot sprain is running back Lance Dunbar, who could practice this week and play against Kansas City. Dunbar said he got the impression Bryant's injury wasn't the same as his own, which has sidelined him since Aug. 17 in Arizona.
"I've seen him today, so I don't think his is that bad," Dunbar said of Dez. "He's walking around pretty good. He'll be all right – just ice it."
Bryant had just four catches for 22 yards, but his presence certainly opened up the middle for fellow receivers Miles Austin (10 catches, 72 yards) and Jason Witten (eight catches, 70 yards, 2 TDs). Even DeMarco Murray had eight catches for 39 yards out of the backfield.
"Well, he got a lot of attention from their defense. He has to understand that," Garrett said when asked how Dez handled the lighter workload. "That's the world he's going to live in for the rest of his career. The really good players have to understand that. They just have to keep fighting through it. I thought from an emotional standpoint, he handled it well. He kept battling. He kept trying to give Tony chances to throw him the football. We tried to do a couple of things to give him a chance to get free and get away from those guys. Dez is certainly a featured guy in our offense, but when he gets a lot of attention, you have to be able to go to other guys and be effective with it." [embedded_ad]
In other injury news, cornerback Morris Claiborne suffered a shoulder injury but was able to return to action. Garrett said he was impressed with his return to the field and is confident some rest and rehab will be enough to get his starting right corner back on the field this week.
"We have a lot of guys on our team who have done that," Garrett said of playing with injuries. "Mo Claiborne came back last night and played. Dez Bryant came back last night and played. Those are all positive things for your football team. You have to love football. They are tough guys. They love their teammates."
