The Dallas Cowboys announced today that Tony Romo suffered a broken bone in his back during his hit in the 1st quarter of yesterday's preseason game against the Seahawks.
Jason Garrett: Tony Romo had an MRI on Friday, and he has a broken bone in his back.
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 27, 2016
Garrett says that the injury isn't related to any of his other injuries, and they expect Romo to play for them this year.
— David Helman (@HelmanDC) August 27, 2016
The Cowboys, through David Helman and Rob Phillips, both from DallasCowboys.com, claim that the team do not have a timetable for his return and that his situation is day to day. However Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and Peter King of Sports Illustrated state that Romo is out at least six weeks, with the target return game the first Eagles-Cowboys tilt on October 30th:
Cowboys QB Tony Romo to miss 6-10 weeks with broken bone in back, per source.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 27, 2016
Mike is spot on. Goal is to come back Oct. 30, post-bye, v Philly. https://t.co/Qrfo5KXi5E
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 27, 2016
UPDATE:
Todd Archer of ESPN reports it is a compound fracture of the L1 vertebrae.
Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae, according to a source.... https://t.co/MryqQy4OMN
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) August 27, 2016
Even if Romo is able to return in time to face the Eagles, this still has implications for the Eagles. The Cowboys open the season against the Giants and Redskins, and then play two 2015 playoff teams in the Bengals and Packers before their Week 7 bye prior to the Eagles game. With the NFC East seemingly wide open, missing Romo for the first six games of the season could put the Cowboys out of the running. Dallas went 1-11 in Romo's absence last year.