The Dallas Cowboys will head into Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins on a seven-game losing streak. The good news for the team is they will be getting arguably their most valuable player back under center.
Quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken clavicle late in the Cowboys 20-10 Week 2 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. Since that time, Dallas went from being in first place in the NFC East to cellar dwellers.
Dolphins interim head coach Dan Campbell has first-hand knowledge of what Romo is fully capable of doing in Sunday’s game. Campbell played with Romo for three seasons (2003-2005) with the Cowboys.
“What I remember most of Romo is him coming in as a rookie free agent in 2003, the same year that I came in as a free agent, he was a pup,” Campbell said. “He was kind of one of those guys where when you’ve been in the league a little bit like I was, it’s another rookie free agent and there was always something different about him. From the time he walked in, he was just savvy and every time he got out there he had that gunslinger mentality. He always seemed to make things happen in practice. Preseason games, he found a way to make the throws and move the offense. And now you look at him and it’s like ‘Wow’ he really had an opportunity and he made the most of it.”
Dating back to the 2014 season, Romo has a 14-2 record in the last 16 games he has started under center. Without Romo in the team’s the last five games, the Cowboys have averaged 14.2 points per game.
“We know what we are up against,” McCain said . Romo is an incredible quarterback, he has won a lot of game, so we know what he is capable of.”
Other Dolphins Notes
Many people have wondered why Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill doesn’t have the ability to call audibles at the line of scrimmage. On Thursday, Campbell talked about why the team prefers Tannehill sticks to what the play call was in the huddle.
“Certainly Ryan can handle that mentally, but you could take the chance that that slows him down and his rhythm,” Campbell said. “So if you open the full playbook up those are sometimes the problems that you run into. I’ll be honest with you, his first few years with Mike Sherman he somewhat had that a little bit. He had a lot of options that he could do and he did a good job of getting us into the right play and protection, but we felt like it slowed him down a little bit with his rhythm and we felt that he could be a better passer by taking a little bit of a load off of him and he is throwing the ball better.”
Campbell quote says a lot of things. One, the team doesn’t have confidence that Tannehill can handle the responsibilities that come with changing the play at the line of scrimmage. If that’s the case, the team has to ask themselves why they commit to Tannehill long-term?
Injury News
For the second straight day, linebackers Koa Misi (abdomen) and Jelani Jenkins (ankle) did not practice with the rest of the team. Tackle Ju’Wuan James did not practice either, but he is expected to miss Sunday’s game as he is still recovering from a shoulder injury.
Both cornerback Brice McCain and linebacker Spencer Paysinger were limited in Thursday’s practice. After being limited on Wednesday, Michael Thomas fully participated on Thursday.
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