Tony Romo's Broken Clavicle is a Death Sentence for Dallas Cowboys

By Gil Alcaraz IV

On Sunday afternoon, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suffered a broken clavicle after being driven into the ground on a big sack (you can watch the play here). No matter how optimistic fans choose to be about the Cowboys losing their veteran gunslinger, there’s simply no way they can survive this loss so early in the 2015 campaign.

Put simply, Romo’s injury is a death sentence for the Cowboys.

It was already looking bad for Dallas after losing star receiver Dez Bryant to a broken foot, which was expected to keep him out for about 10 weeks. Without Romo under center, the Cowboys’ offensive options look even worse. The running game is unreliable with Darren McFadden and Joseph Randle posing inconsistent threats. The offensive line will always be a plus, but the passing game now looks subpar at best.

That partly has to do with Bryant being out of the picture, but the bigger aspect is that Brandon Weeden now steps in as the starter at quarterback.

Weeden, a former first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns, is a solid backup quarterback. However, putting the offense in his hands for at least the majority of the rest of the 2015 season is far from reassuring. Weeden has never excelled as a starter, and offered the Cowboys lackluster results in the limited regular-season action he saw in 2014.

Last year, Weeden started one game in Week 9 and struggled mightily. He completed only 54.5 percent of his passes for 183 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, compiling a 55.5 passer rating. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned a -5.1 rating for that performance as the Cowboys fell to the Arizona Cardinals 17-28.

Realistically, Weeden could have a good game or two as the Cowboys’ starter. But if he’s forced to take over for the remainder of the season — especially with no reliable running game and no Bryant — the outlook is ugly. Weeden is a solid backup quarterback, but that’s the only role he belongs in.

Especially in a very competitive NFC East, there’s just no way the Cowboys can win consistently enough to stay in playoff contention. Weeden will make too many mistakes, and defense will have the ability to focus on the running game with the combination of Romo and Bryant watching from the sideline.

It’s a disappointing development for the Cowboys, a team that had Super Bowl aspirations heading into 2015. Unfortunately, that’s just the way things work out sometimes in the NFL.

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