It wasn't all good news last night, the post-game flight home was interrupted by a very scary situation. Mickey Spags explains:
But somehow, the very life that seemed pumped into this team after the victory got in the way. The Cowboys' American Airlines charter flight, an hour after takeoff from Charlotte, N.C., had to make an emergency landing here in Nashville, Tenn., at 1:30 a.m. (CST) Monday because of apparent heart problems suffered by Tony Ollison, the team's assistant strength and conditioning coach.
Ollison was taken to Southern Hills Medical Center here, and was to be hospitalized at least on overnight. Ollison's heart rate had stabilized and his pulse was closer to normal as the team's medical staff, with the help of the American Airlines flight crew, assisted him off the plane. Cowboys trainer Jim Maurer said the medical staff had not determined if Ollison had suffered a heart attack.
Scary. Here's hoping that everything turns out fine for Tony Ollison. Out at training camp, I watched him everyday run with Marcus Spears, Justin Beriault and other injured players trying to get them back on the field. Now he's the injured player, let's hope he's back on the field soon.
We suffered a big injury last night. Tyson Thompson broke his ankle, and it's a shame, because the kid was doing really well in returning kickoffs.
Thompson appeared to get injured when he was tackled out of bounds following a 37-yard kickoff return with 1:13 left in the first quarter. After the Panthers' Karl Hankton was assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty, quarterback Tony Romo took over at the Carolina 47 and eventually threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten nine plays later.
TT had been a weapon returning kicks. Parcells replaced him with Aaron Glenn for the rest of the game, but it looks like Skyler Green might get his chance soon. Abram Elam was the other deep guy on kicks, but I don't think Parcells wants him to be the full-time kick returner. Maybe MB3 will get a shot back there.
Note to ESPN: Terrell Owens and Bill Parcells do talk to each other and it's not all bad.
While we're all patting Romo on the back, let's remember that Drew Bledsoe is being the good teammate in all this. It took him a little while to get there, those shots of him on the sideline last Monday weren't very encouraging as he was silent instead of talking to Romo. But that's understandable, he had just been yanked from a game and his career as an active starting QB might've just come to an end. That's a lot to shake off in an instant. But being the class professional he's always been, Bledsoe is doing what he supposed to do. Preparing to play just in case and supporting the starting QB for the good of the team.