Cowboys Injuries: Tony Romo, Miles Austin and Felix Jones Status

Along with that brilliant comeback win by the Dallas Cowboys over the San Francisco 49ers, came a slew of injuries. Not the least of which was Tony Romo's rib injury, which knocked him out of the game, until he basically told Jason Garrett he was going back in, then raced onto the field after locating his helmet and left Garrett with no real choice. Here's how the two describe the exchange.

Back on the sideline late in the third quarter, Romo tapped Jason Garrett on the shoulder and told the coach to put him back in the game.

"Eventually, what was convincing was, 'At some point I'm going to play with this thing, so why not now?' " Garrett said, quoting Romo. "It's about a quarterback but it's really about a football player and a competitor. And Tony is that. One of the best competitors I've ever been around."

Romo said: "I just told him I was good to go. I think he asked some of the guys. I didn't give him too much of a chance. I just ran on the field."

Romo was phenomenal for the rest of the 49ers game, but is he going to be able to play with it going forward? I think he can, and this is why. He says so himself. See above where Romo tells Garrett - 'At some point I'm going to play with this thing, so why not now?' He showed he could play through the pain. But, there's still a chance it could worsen this week. SB Nation's own Dr. Ali, yes, a real doctor, covers injuries for us. He says of Romo:

Make the jump...

Romo suffered a fractured rib on the third play of the Cowboys' 27-24 overtime win over the 49ers, leaving the game briefly at the start of the second half before returning to rally his team to victory. Although Romo was able to play through the injury, the key issue with rib injuries is how the player tolerates the pain associated with contact and movement, which may worsen over the week if swelling and inflammation worsens. It is reasonable to believe Romo will need to wear a protective vest in practice this week and potentially in games until the injury fully heals. In most cases, a plastic vest, which holds an absorbent material to cushion the affected area, is used to prevent reinjury. While it is unlikely Romo will lose time due to the injury, it bears watching in advance of the team's Week 3 matchup with Washington next Monday night.

BTW, he covers all the major injuries of the week, you should check out his article.

So it basically sounds like if Romo can take the pain, he can play with it. Let's hope that remains the case. We'll be talking a lot more about Romo's heroics this week, but suffice it to say here that it was one helluva performance.

Onto the rest of the injuries:

Miles Austin's hamstring could be a big problem. ESPN is reporting that the Cowboys fear this could keep Austin out through the bye week, if not more. Obviously that's terrible news if true, Austin was a total stud on Sunday. Dez Bryant will need to return to the field if Austin is out.

Felix Jones has a separated shoulder, the question is how bad is it. He actually played some more in the game after the injury, but will the Cowboys shut him down for a while to get fully healed, and turn to Choice, Murray and Tanner? We'll have to wait on the results of the MRI, but I think it's likely that Jones will be out for a few weeks. Then again, he showed he could play through pain on Sunday. Seems like the Cowboys under Garrett are a very resilient bunch, and play in pain.

Phil Costa missed the end of the game with a knee injury. This is the same PCL injury he hurt during training camp. He missed two weeks then, but we don't know how severe this one is. Kevin Kolwaski replaced him, and did a good job.

Jason Witten has bruised ribs, and played with them for most of the game. Witten being Witten, I doubt he'll miss any time.