FRISCO, Texas– In sticking with his "day-by-day" assessment, Jason Garrett probably won't rule out Tony Romo for the Week 1 game against the Giants, until it gets to a day or two before the game.
But the reality of the situation, is that Romo is likely several weeks away from playing again after suffering a fractured bone in his back, which will need time to heal. Most media reports are suggesting Romo could miss 6-10 weeks, while others inside the organization are hopeful for a 4-6 week recovery. Considering the Week 1 game with the Giants is still two weeks away from Sunday, the most optimistic timetable would have Romo only missing a couple of games.
But most of that will be determined with how quickly the fractured bone heals in his back.
In an effort to help that process, Romo will be wearing a back brace for support over the next few weeks. That's about the extent of what Garrett would tell the media on Sunday regarding Romo's status and his road to recovery.
"He just going to start getting into rehab and part of his rehab," Garrett said. "He's going to be wearing a back brace for now and so you'll see him around wearing that and again we'll take his situation day by day like we do with every guy on our team and every injury that we have. He'll do the things that he's capable of doing and won't do the things he's not capable of doing and hopefully he'll progress every day."
This injury is not the same as what Romo suffered in 2014 when a knee to the back against the Redskins to a broken transverse process bone. He was able to return to the game in the second half, but then missed the next game against the Cardinals but returned two weeks later.
This broken bone is the L1 vertebra is not considered to be related to the other back issues he's had, which include two herniated disk surgeries, along with the transverse process.
The Cowboys will continue to get rookie Dak Prescott ready to replace Romo, and perhaps sign or claim another veteran for backup purposes.
Since the team is hopeful he can return sooner than eight weeks, placing Romo on the recallable IR list of eight weeks, like they did a year ago for him, does not seem likely at this point. Because of that, Romo will likely stay on the roster as the third quarterback when the rosters are reduced to 53 on Sept. 3.
That means the pressure will be on first-year pro Jamiell Showers, who is expected to take most, if not all of the snaps Thursday night in the preseason finale against Houston.
