Tony Romo played through broken rib, punctured lung

AP

Tony Romo’s late-game heroics in San Francisco Sunday came while he was playing in serious pain.

Romo reportedly suffered both a fractured rib and a punctured lung against the 49ers.

Although Romo left the game for most of the third quarter, he returned and played brilliantly in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Cowboys went from down 24-14 to winning 27-24.

The injury apparently came in the third play of the game, when 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks hit Romo. But Romo managed to play through the rest of the first half before eventually getting a painkilling injection and sitting out the third quarter while waiting for it to take effect.

Romo finished the game completing 20 of 33 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he expects Romo to play next Monday night against the Redskins.

89 responses to “Tony Romo played through broken rib, punctured lung

  1. Cowboys fans are going to wish he always has a punctured lung and cracked rib if he’s gonna play like that..

  2. “Come on gimme some of that Novocaine,
    Come on, gimme some of that Novocaine,
    Keep that sugar coming through the sugar straw,
    I don’t wanna feel the pain….”.

    – David Rawlings, “Sweet Tooth”.

  3. As a sports medicine doctor, reading the article, it seems to me much more likely that the hit on the field fractured his rib, and the painkiller injection punctured his lung. Either way, he played with it, so props to him.

  4. How the hell do you play with a punctured lung?? Seems like a bit more than just a typical football injury cant believe he can still play monday.

  5. jarheadjed says:
    Sep 19, 2011 6:25 PM
    Wow, if only he was a clutch QB maybe he would get some respect.

    I wouldn’t rather have any other QB in charge of my team.

    Stupidest thing i have ever heard. i would rather have Romo with a broken collar bone, rib, and punctured lung that Kyle Orton running the show.

  6. jarheadjed says:
    Sep 19, 2011 6:25 PM

    I wouldn’t rather have any other QB in charge of my team.

    Never mind im and idiot. I read that you WOULD rather have any other QB.

  7. That’s not brave, that’s plain stupid. As much of a fan as I am, I recognize that this is a game. A pneumothorax can kill you. The Cowboys training staff should be ashamed of letting him back out with a “puntured lung.” This borders on malpractice!

  8. Being an Eagle fan I naturally dislike this guy. But that took some guts and heart to play the rest of that game. I tip my hat to the QB, only for this week…

  9. Lol. Skins fan talkin smack about our QB…let’s see what you have to say when D Ware splatters Rex Grossman’s brain matter all over the field.

  10. I hate the Cowbags … but well done Tony. On a day where I had to watch Brady whine to the refs every play it was refreshing to actually watch a man play the position.

  11. Wouldn’t you figure that if doctors really knew he had a punctured lung they would’ve advised against Romo coming back into the game?

    Not sure how often a player doesn’t miss time after a punctured lung incident. I would expect him to be listed as questionable at least.

  12. @ PHILLYFAN what the hell do u know about winning!!! haha!!!
    @JARHEAD the name fits,im pretty sure the jar is empty!!!

  13. No chance any Redskins get flagged for a hit to the helmet or knees on Romo. They’ll be aiming for the ribs every time.

    Have a fun game, Tony.

  14. And Carl Crawford asks out of the front end of a double header as the Sox’ lead dwindles away cuz
    of a……..stiff neck ? Its called Sports Creme dude.
    Surely your $20m per year salary can afford it.

    I saw Pat Chung go out in the Pats game against
    the Chargers with a hand injury, comes back 10
    min later with a hard cast on it. Romo pulls this
    off…tell me baseball is a better sport…go ahead.
    Convince me.

  15. Not smart letting him play. I knew a guy in a car crash who had a similar injury, and when they put him on the table in the ER, the rib punctured his heart and goodbye.

  16. not a real big Romo fan as a cowboy fan, but I do give the guy alot of props for putting his team on his shoulder and leading them to an overtime victory in that condition…

  17. I’m not a Cowboys fan but I’d take Romo on my team any day of the week. He’s tough, his throwing mechanics are great and he’s the real deal. A punctured freaking lung? wow, like him or hate him, thats bad ass

  18. bowwserr…
    your not smart man. your teams secondary sucks, your pass rush is spotty at best, your qb, rb and best wr are hurt. your owners favorite player is hurt. your team is no good man and wont be splattering anything but the back of their collective pants. you can look forward to maybe 7 wins, maybe and one of the 6 more you might get wont be monday.
    keep beliving your team and its ridiculously over-rated qb are good.
    HAIL to the new class of the division, the skins

  19. I now look at Tony Romo in a different light. I am not a Dallas fan but that took a lot of fortitude for him to go back in knowing that even hurting if he had any bad breaks everyone would pile on big time confirming their astute football knowledge that he is no the QB to lead this team. Good job Tony.

  20. I had a fractured rib once and it hurt just to take a deep breath let alone move. You bet he got pain killers.

  21. “As a sports medicine doctor, reading the article, it seems to me much more likely that the hit on the field fractured his rib, and the painkiller injection punctured his lung. Either way, he played with it, so props to him.”

    As someone who had a punctured lung from a broken rib (w/ no painkiller) and 2 surgeries b/c my 1st doctor was probably a yahoo like you…I can tell you that this is very likely the cause.

  22. Sounds like a bunch of media BS. Punctured lung my ass, If he really had that happen shouldnt the doctors be getting some scrutiny for letting him back in?

  23. @The4cannons…

    Dallas has more sacks than anyone….DWare has 4….pretty good for a “spotty pass rush”

  24. Orakpo and Kerrigan have to be just foaming at the mouth coming into this game. I CAN’T WAIT. He wont last the game. WE WANT DALLAS.

  25. I give Romo full credit for gutting it out yesterday…..but until he wins when it counts or is clutch when it matters most…yesterday didn’t disprove anything.

    I guess we’ll know come January.

  26. As a Redskins fan, i respect Romo a lot for what he did, that truly is what you want from a QB with the game on the line.

    Having said that though, Orakpo, Fletcher, Kerrigan, Landry, will be coming all out knowing you’re already hurt. Just get ready and hope they keep it fractured, not broken.

  27. your not smart man. your teams secondary sucks, your pass rush is spotty at best,

    =============

    Really. Cowboys lead the league in sacks.

  28. You skins fans are priceless. The names Orakpo and Kerrigan don’t mean anything outside of the DC area. No one fears these chumps. We have faced better defensive fronts than yours TWICE already this year. This week will be a nice break.

  29. I think some people mistook my post…Romo is my guy, saying I wouldn’t have any other QB over him. I know he is not the most talented, but for my money he is a damn fine QB and a playmaker.

    Sarcasm didn’t translate there I suppose. Gutsy performance and it took brass balls. Very refreshing to see, if a league full of QBs complaining every time a defensive player looks at them the wrong way.

  30. Considering the hit Orakpo put on Kolb this week, I’m not sure it’s wise to put a guy with a broken rib and a punctured lung on the field behind that creaky O-line. In December with the playoffs on the line is one thing…in Week 3 it’s playing with fire (unless you buy into the notion that team is better off with Kitna under center). But Jerrah doesn’t make very good decisions on the whole, so I guess it’s unfair to ask him to start now…

  31. As much as the meltdown against the Jets, the botched snap (if Gramatica actually touches Babineaux, the ‘Boys win in Seattle) and the INT against the Giants (if Crayton catches the crossing route the game is over) defined him, perhaps this is a turning point.

    A lot of the great ones have struggled and bloomed late.

    As a Cowboys fan, I’d like to think that Romo’s toughness and maturity are coming together and he is right that he is entering the “second phase” of his career.

    Maybe one day we’ll look back at this game and say that’s “when it happened for him”…..

  32. to all the htrs on romo that was the guttiest performance in nfl history. this guy has the top 5 passer rating of all time…remember guys..this is a team sport and romo has delivered game in and game out. look at this overall record too…stud.

    people r just jealous as he is a stud QB who dates hot ladies. most of u guys that hate are just jealous. I bet 99% of u r deadskin fans who got lucky in 2 games to start the season. Tell me a team that finishes last the previous 10 yr gets 2 homes games to start the next season and my boys have to go coast to coast.

    time to shut your traps and take your beating monday when d ware sacks GROSS man!!! 4 times and my boys roll into 1st place 35-0.

    HAIL SUCKAS!!!!

  33. see what you have to say when D Ware splatters Rex Grossman’s brain matter all over the field.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++
    Rex Grossman has a brain!!!!

  34. Punctured lung….sure….maybe the fine needle of the pain injection touched the lung’s outer tissue….a far cry from a fractured bone tearing a hole in the lung, as the headline would have you believe…..typical Dallas….

  35. I agree with the others who said if it’s true, cracked rib, punctured lung, and he’s getting shot up to return to the field, that’s frightening.

    I can’t believe any “physician” would approve such a thing.

  36. jenniferxxx says:Sep 19, 2011 6:48 PM

    “I hate the Cowbags … but well done Tony. On a day where I had to watch Brady whine to the refs every play it was refreshing to actually watch a man play the position.”

    I’m not sure what game you were on, but I was watching Tom throw completions every play, not whining.

    Good job Tony, by the way. Hate the Cowboys, but I’ll give credit where it’s due.

  37. One decent game and now he’s “great”?

    =================

    Don’t know where you’ve been, but the guy has had more than one good game. His winning percentage is .635, he’s had a passer rating of 90 or above in 40 of the 63 games he’s started, and he’s got 11 4th quarter and OT game-winning drives.

  38. boysroll says:
    Sep 19, 2011 7:49 PM
    …remember guys..this is a team sport and romo has delivered game in and game out. look at this overall record too…stud.

    Only a Cowpies fan would contradict himself in the same damn sentence…we’re supposed to “remember this is a team sport” and then you attribute the TEAM’S record to Romo. Amazing…

  39. You Redskins fans are idiots. You talk trash like you’ve done something. Arizona at home…. barely? Giants B team? We’d beat ur a$$ w Kitna. You better hope Romo doesn’t play or Dez or Miles. Not that it matters. If all of them dont play, u guys are a smoke screen. A 6-10 team at best. Talk that sh#t now cause in 3 weeks you’ll be suckin for Luck. A$$holes.

  40. sadskinsfan89 says: Sep 19, 2011 7:14 PM

    Orakpo and Kerrigan have to be just foaming at the mouth coming into this game. I CAN’T WAIT. He wont last the game. WE WANT DALLAS.

    be careful what you wish for, didn’t your mommy ever tell you that?

  41. Props to the guy for playing with a rib fx; those hurt enough. But it an honest to god pneumothorax? Is he in the hospital with a chest tube right now? I’m not being snide; if anyone knows and he is god bless him, but if he isn’t, that simply isn’t the truth.

  42. Wow … I agree with the post that questioned the wisdom of Dallas’ medical staff. Tony is obviously a warrior and I certainly respect his courage. Holy cow. Unbelievable!! But …. Tony must have relied on the Dallas medical staff and IMHO, they failed him.

    I suppose a shot would kill the pain and if the broken rib was on the left side, throwing is conceivable with a pain killer. But … how do you wrap Tony up well enough to protect his chest from another hit without having the wrap constrict his throwing motion or without preventing him from breathing after running? Seems like he’d be way, way, way too vulnerable to even falling down on that same weakend rib spot. Yikes.

    Furthermore, the medical information below says that “any exertion” is a bad idea. The medical advice does not say “stop playing quarterback” … but …. it doesn’t say “don’t deliberately crash your motorcycle into parked cars” either.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pneumothorax/DS00943

    …. key content snipped from Mayo — >>

    A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung. Pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between your lungs and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse. In most cases, only a portion of the lung collapses.

    A pneumothorax can be caused by a blunt or penetrating chest injury…. When the lung collapses, it causes sudden chest pain and shortness of breath.

    A small, uncomplicated pneumothorax may quickly heal on its own. When the pneumothorax is larger, doctors usually insert a tube or needle between your ribs to remove the excess air.
    The goal in treating a pneumothorax is to relieve the pressure on your lung, allowing it to re-expand, and to prevent recurrences. The best method for achieving this depends on the severity of the lung collapse …..

    If only a small portion of your lung is collapsed, your doctor may simply monitor your condition with a series of chest X-rays until the air is completely absorbed and your lung has re-expanded. This may require bed rest as any exertion may aggravate the collapse.

  43. “your pass rush is spotty at best”

    Is this the same spotty pass rush that sacked Smith six times and held the 49ers to a net 132 yards passing? That spotty pass rush?

  44. You know, if I wanted to change the narrative about Tony Romo’s fourth quarter play in big games, upgrading broken ribs into a punctured lung would be a nice way of getting that done.

    Kudos to the guy for playing with broken ribs, but if they seriously let him back on that field with a any signs of a punctured lung, that’s borderline criminal.

  45. If his lung had collapsed there is NO WAY he would or could continue playing. It simply would not be physically possible. He would have a significantly more difficult time breathing and that would have clued the docs in. I really don’t think the medics had any idea that he had a pneumo before they let him back into the game. Did he have a chest X-ray before he went back in? If so maybe afterwards he had a followup ct which showed a slight pneumo.

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