It has been almost a decade since former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo retired from the NFL. But his former head coach, Jason Garrett, still remembers how dedicated Romo was. Even a fractured rib and punctured lung could not hold back the QB from standing up to a challenge.
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“I don’t know if you remember we played San Francisco in 2011, the second game of the season and Romo got hit like in his chest, and he was out for the game,” recalled Garrett on The Dan Patrick Show. “John Kitna was playing for us, and you know, banging away San Francisco. I think it was Jim Harbaugh’s first year, and we’re having this back-and-forth game. They go ahead, and I think we’re almost out for the game.
“… I think it was the start of the fourth quarter, I just feel this guy from behind me kind of shove me from behind, and then he hits me in the chest. It’s Romo. He says, ‘I’m back in.’ I’m like, ‘You’re back in.’ And he went in, he played his a** off, and we ended up beating them in overtime. So sometimes, you get surprised by that. Oftentimes as coaches and as medical people, you got to be careful. You got to protect the player from himself because all these guys want to play.”
Tony Romo was injured when San Francisco linebacker Ahmad Brooks hit him on a 25-yard completion right at the beginning of the first quarter. But he played through the entire half, and sat out only during the third quarter for the painkillers to kick in. He returned in the final quarter and helped Dallas win 27-24, overcoming a 10-point deficit.
Romo’s numbers make it seem like he didn’t suffer the injuries at all: he threw for 345 yards, two touchdowns, and an impressive 77-yard pass in overtime for Dallas to edge past the 49ers with a field goal.
After the game, the Cowboys confirmed that Tony Romo broke a rib and punctured his lung, leading to “evidence” of him suffering a pneumothorax. His lung had collapsed, which led to a space around his lung where air had gathered. It creates a pressure, preventing one from breathing properly.
Tony Romo, in a podcast appearance on Brad Sham’s Then and Now, said that the medics were hesitant to let him go back in. The punctured lung was only a doubt at the time, but it was a serious one. However, Romo still got back in, haunted by the Week 1 loss to the New York Jets.
“So, the problem was, the first game, we lost to the Jets up in New York, I believe. I threw an interception at the end of that game and I remember feeling of like, ‘Man, if we lose this second game, we’re 0-2,'” Romo said. And I know what 0-2 is like in the NFL as far as teams that have come out of that, it’s just really hard. Everyone knows of the one team who did it and stuff, but it’s just, we weren’t exactly the ’92 Cowboys talent-wise and so I feel like, I just knew how important this game was.”
Well, Romo did not find luck when it came to lifting the Lombardi in his career, but through his commitment and dedication, he etched his name forever in Dallas’ history. On the podcast, he also believed this San Francisco game was among those he is proud of.
“It’s got to be one of those things that will follow him through his career. I know what it was here in the locker room at halftime. I know what he had to do to get back on the field,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “I know what he had to do before (painkillers) took hold to relieve him from his pain. But, boy, did he come back. That was inspirational.”
Over a decade later, Garrett continues to marvel at Romo’s extraordinary comeback while stressing the importance of coaches protecting players who are willing to risk their health to get back on the field.