Season preview: Romo’s health remains biggest factor in Cowboys’ success

There is no bigger factor impacting the Dallas Cowboys season than the health of quarterback Tony Romo.

You want to make the Cowboys great again?

Keep Romo healthy and on the field.

Romo is 78-49 since taking over as Cowboys starting quarterback in 2006.

Without him during that time, the Cowboys are 7-20, including a ghastly 1-11 mark when he missed 12 games during last season’s 4-12 nightmare.

Critics often point to Romo’s two playoff wins to diminish his greatness as a quarterback, disregarding that he is the most prolific passer in Cowboys history, has the third-highest passer rating in NFL history and is 14th all time in fourth-quarter comebacks since 1960.

If Romo is so bad, consider where the Cowboys would be without him.

You don’t have to look far. Just go back to last year to find your answer.

It’s little wonder that owner Jerry Jones said in March that the best thing that happened to the Cowboys this off-season was the return to health of Romo.

He means that much to any hopes the Cowboys have of regaining the dreams they had after his MVP-caliber season in 2014, when he passed for 34 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. He led them to a 12-4 record and possibly within one erroneously ruled Dez Bryant catch (non-catch) of the team’s first trip to the NFC title game since they won their last Super Bowl title in 1995.

All that’s seemingly back in play for the Cowboys and Romo after his off-season surgery to repair a left collarbone he fractured twice last year.

Romo underwent the Mumford procedure, where the distal part of the clavicle was shaved, creating space to relieve potential pressure on the shoulder joint and possibly prevent a rebreak following similar hits of a year ago.

Cowboys Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith had the same procedure after the 1992 season and didn’t have any more problems with it during a career that ended with him as the league’s all-time leading rusher.

Still, the situation is more acute with Romo at the age of 36. It was also his third surgery since the end of the 2012 season, including two operations on his back.

No one is more aware of his place and situation than Romo, who promised to do everything he could to get back on the field better than ever and as healthy as ever.

That’s why he opted for the Mumford procedure.

It’s also why he rededicated himself to a more healthy and fit lifestyle. Never has Romo worked out harder and paid more attention to his diet than he did this past off-season.

As a result, he returned to the field faster than imagined, doing more and a having a fuller off-season than any since before than the 2012 season.

According to coaches and observers, he is moving well and throwing the ball as sharp as he ever has in his career.

That the Cowboys have had Romo on a “two days on, one day off” practice plan in training camp is not about any limitations, but rather a management plan to keep him strong for a full 16 games and possibly more in the playoffs.

The addition of rookie top pick Ezekiel Elliott at running back and a return to the run-first attack the team had in 2014, when DeMarco Murray rushed for a league-leading and franchise-record 1,845 yards, will aid the process.

As will the return of game-breaking receiver Dez Bryant, who missed seven games last year with a fractured foot, and the presence of the league’s best offensive line.

But Romo is the centerpiece to it all. He is the straw that stirs the drink.

Keep him healthy and on the field and the Cowboys can truly be great again.

Anything less will be a nightmare worse than Donald Trump’s hair.

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Season preview: Romo’s health remains biggest factor in Cowboys’ success."