There is no such thing as minor back surgery. There is a very good chance that Romo will never be the same again, that doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective quarterback, it just means the Cowboys may have to tailor their offense more around the short passing game.
CBS Sports has a breakdown on what is going on with Romo’s back.
More often than not Romo is watching Brandon Weeden make throws to the starters at practice, he’s not throwing too many deep balls, he’s not rolling out with abandon. That’s just not that there.
Backs can be tricky, and, as Romo suggested to me, all sides have to be flexible in charting a daily course of action. The overall plan is to have him good as new come September, but there is daily juggling of his pitch count and workload and Romo is in regular communication with the coaches and trainers, listening to what his body is telling him.
To this point, that includes not practicing three straight days, limiting his throws (in some 11-on-11 drills Weeden was taking three times as many reps as Romo). The ball didn’t come out with sizzle, rarely did Romo throw three or four times in a row — he would make way for Weeden or end up handing off after a few throws in team drills — and he wasn’t connecting on much outside of 10 or 15 yards. Attempts at a few back shoulder fades came up short, knocked away by defensive backs.
Hopefully, Romo is close to 100% when the season starts, but there is cause for concern.