Boomer Esiason on Romo Injury

There's been a lot of hype around Dallas and Tony Romo this week after coming back into the game last weekend against the 49ers with cracked ribs and a punctured lung.  Most of the media has been building up Romo and complementing his toughness for coming back into the game.  But Boomer Esiason sees it much differently.

"What the hell are the Cowboys' doctors doing?" the former Bengals, Jets and Cardinals quarterback said in an interview with USA Today." Are you allowed to play with a punctured lung, a collapsed lung, broken ribs? Is that what the NFL is now? Or do we actually care about the players? Or is it all just lip service? I think (Commissioner) Roger Goodell has got to look at that particular situation very seriously."

Esiason went on to say; "Everybody's got an opinion on Tony Romo. Everybody wants to put pressure on him."  "He's not the big-time QB, he's not Troy Aikman, he's not Roger Staubach, I get all that. But that fueled Tony Romo in my estimation on Sunday. He may deny it. ... I know he probably feels in the back of his mind, 'What are they going to write about me now if I don't show up on the field?' Now, he has a punctured lung and two fractured ribs."

Michael Irvin was on NFL Network today and was asked if Romo should play this weekend against the Redskins.  "Romo should absolutely play", Irvin stated during the interview.  He went on to talk about how he showed toughness and now has the confidence of the locker room.

Most people are aware of my opinion on Michael Irvin.  He's not exactly the best speaker, and he's usually wrong about most topics he discusses.  He's looking at this particular situation one sided.  Yes, Romo did show toughness going out there injured and playing to help his team win.  But like Boomer pointed out; how did these doctors clear him to go back into the game with a punctured lung?  Guys play all the time with bruised or cracked ribs, but a punctured lung?  We're talking serious health issues here if he gets hit. 

Maybe this was a scheme by Jerry Jones and the Cowboys doctors to make the injury sound more severe than what it really was to get the media off of their quarterback.  Maybe Romo really was hurt this severely.  If this is the case, the doctors on the Cowboys staff do need to be investigated, because if you're letting a guy play under these circumstances, you are putting his life at risk.