The Mighty Quinn is Done

With all due respect to Manfred Mann and Bob Dylan:

Come all without, come all within
You'll not see playing from the mightly Quinn

When Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo fractured his 5th metacarpal in overtime against the Arizona Cardinals in October, he received a phone call from his childhood hero, Brett Favre, who told him that if he could play through the pain, he should.

Everyone made light of it, saying that Romo needed shouldn't have needed to be pushed to play, that he should suck it up and play. It was, after all, "only a pinkie."

After trying during the week of practice, Romo and the team determined he couldn't go. That decision was applauded by Capt. Comeback himself.

Last week, Browns once-back-up-now starting quarterback Brady Quinn reported that he broke the tip of his index finger but would play against the Houston Texans last Sunday night. He did, and promptly was ushered back to the location where he started the season - the bench.

Now, according to Jay Glaser at Fox Sports, Quinn is being placed on injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season.

Glaser was told that doctors found the injury to the digit worsened in the process of playing Sunday night. Sources indicated that not only did the break get worse, but there was also tendon damage as a result. If he wasn't placed in the shelf (Editor's note: bench), the tendon could conceivably detach from the bone, which would be even more damaging.

It looks as if the Cowboys and Romo made the correct decision. While the distinction between Quinn and Derek Anderson might not substantial, the dropoff from Romo to Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger is, shall we say, more dramatic.

Sunday's game against the 49ers showed that Romo's short-range passing still suffers from the split. He looked find on the long ball, connecting woth Terrell Owens seven times for 213 yards and finishing the day with 341 passing yards.

But the short passes still weren't there. The reason is simple - on the long ball, Romo has time to get a good grip on the ball as he's loading up to go downfield.

But the shorter passes require a quicker release and more zip once the player gets open. This is something that the team found out the week Romo attmpted to throw:

While the pain was tolerable, Romo couldn't take direct snaps. And because of the protective splint on his hand, he needed an extra two to three seconds to get a proper grip before making throws.

- Dallas Morning News

That would explain a lot of passes behind receivers as well as double-clutching and trying to hit the recievers later in their routes.

But not to worry, Cowboys faithful, after Thursday's game against the Seattle Seahawks, the splint will come off of Romo's hand and he should get his timing back.