Taking It Easy With Romo Is Definitely The Best Decision
By Cory Mageors
OXNARD (105.3 THE FAN) - I know a lot of people are concerned about the pace at which Tony Romo has been going through this training camp.
A practice here. A missed practice there.
No start in the first preseason game.
It can all be concerning especially with the wave of injuries DFW sports teams have suffered. Add in the cryptic nature at which teams release injury information and it can be a hollow feeling for a fan.
Right now, it sounds like the Cowboys are making the best decision and I'll use the Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison comparison to emphasize my point.
Jason Garrett has been adamant that they will take it easy on him for the purpose of preserving him for the regular season. Not because he's made of glass but because they want him to be the guy he actually is. The guy they signed a pretty massive contract to who was supposed to take on a huge workload. And I'm sure the Romo supporters that exist, and Cowboys fans that want to see them win together will agree they want the Romo they remember.
That being said they've given him a little more time to show what he's actually capable of doing.
In practice Saturday he started putting zip on the ball and made a few big deep passes.
"He looked like himself a little more," Garret said. "Not like he was working through something. The look on his face and how he moved looked like he was more like himself."
That is a sign, but not a sign that all is well and we can move on and start scrambling around and taking big hits.
Heck even Brandon Weeden said after he took that crushing hit on his touchdown pass against the Chargers he felt a little pain in his tailbone for the first time ever. So no need to add any new ailments to Romo if you want him on the field.
But more importantly let's look at Romo's body and work.
Garrett says that one of the things that makes Romo capable of having such a quick release with good power on his throws is the way he moves his hips. And watching his throwing motion you can really see the drive that Romo delivers when he follows through.
Let's sing a song real quick, the hip bone connects to the back. In some way everything that happens in the hips affects the back.
When Harrison started his string of injuries, he had a toe injury. Then he stated that he was overcompensating for the toe because he was trying to tough it out. That threw off his typical pitching mechanics and eventually led back to him suffering a possible career ending back problem.
What Garrett doesn't want to happen with Romo is for him to begin developing bad habits that could eventually further injure his back or lead to overcompensation.
Ask any coach about the importance of the mechanics of a quarterback and they all say it's imperative.
Tom Brady has a series of like 22 things to remember from snap to release.
Tom House brings in more than half the league to work on their throwing techniques and Tim Tebow is out of the league because he just couldn't get it right.
Bill Parcells said Romo would stand in his living room and throw footballs into his couch and take notes on his own throwing motion just so he could master it.
So it seems like it's pretty important.
For the time being, since there is no true competitive reason for Romo to sacrifice Romo's body and add soreness, and since we know the guy is a tough guy, let's all take a minute to wait and see him fight through this.
Would certainly hate to see another Harrison type situation in DFW.
See what's happening at the Bud Light Beach House
Latest Sports: