I don't even know how to begin to contemplate what happened on the field today. It was total and complete team meltdown.
But sometimes things can be put into perspective when a players' health is severely threatened. Tony Romo has not been fully healthy since he broke his hand against Arizona; the week after having the splint removed from his hand Romo hurt his back against New York. The offensive line in front of him became incapable of adjusting to blitzers and the past few weeks Romo has been running for his life, and taking a pounding in the process. Tonight after the debacle in Philly, Tony Romo collapsed the locker room shower while reporters and players looked on in horror.
Athletic trainer Jim Maurer and his staff rushed into the shower as the locker room came to a near standstill. A stretcher was wheeled in, but Romo was eventually helped to his feet and taken into the training room.
[snip]
When asked later what happened, Romo said, "Um, you know, I was just a little banged up, I guess."
The reports are that Romo suffered a painful rib injury against the Eagles and that was the cause of the fall. Its tough to speculate on what exactly happened but I can tell you that a rib injury will make it very tough to breathe. Combine that with a heart breaking loss, a debillitating back injury and sheer mental and physical exhaustion; you have the perfect storm that leads to light headedness and then passing out.
Today we saw Ben Roethlisberger wheeled off the field on a stretcher, and too many times the past few seasons have players' lives been forever changed from neck injury. Its times like these that really make you realize that it's just a game, but these guys really are risking a lot.
[Note by Brandon Worley, 12/28/08 11:25 PM EST ] I also want to add this: Anyone who says this isn't a big deal or makes a joke about needs to take a step back from things for a bit. It's great to hear now that he's okay, but things that seem minor can turn sour real quickly; take a look at Chris Simms or Al Harris. What may seem like a normal injury may have done serious internal damage and know one knows. And even though Romo had a bad game, he still tried his freaking hardest even though he was getting pounded into the turf nearly every single play. That is more than I can say about a lot of the team.