The weekly edition of Showtime's 'Inside The NFL' aired on Wednesday night for the first time, and the expert panel was treated to a Tony Romo surprise interview. Romo was live via satellite and was able to respond to several things, including the criticism he received from analyst Warren Sapp throughout the offseason and following the collapse against the Jets in Week 1.
Romo again admitted to being at fault for the turnovers, and graciously accepted Sapp's opinions to be those of someone with 'skins of the wall'. Speaking of Skins on the wall... it's Redskins Week and I'm sure DeMarcus Ware and the Ryan Boys are thinking the exact same thing, but we digress. Host James Brown intimated that there was plenty of fault for the the last interception by Darrell Revis to be placed at the feet of others, per an off-camera discussion with analyst and former QB Phil Simms.
As for the injury, Romo had the following to say.
(On his mindset before returning to Sunday's game after suffering the injury)
ROMO: "The biggest thing going through my brain was just, ‘You just don't want to go 0-2 in the NFL.' That, really, is just such a hole to be in. It's so hard to come out of. That was really the thing that kept going through my brain...If I can do anything here. I just don't want to be sitting here on Monday or Tuesday thinking that we're 0-2."
(On his lung/rib injury and his ability to play on Monday night)
ROMO: "On the rib side, just breathing, sometimes, is harder than I want it to be. I know that... If it's a pain related thing, it sucks but you can usually play. Either you can go out and move around or you can't. If it's an in-between thing, usually you end up playing. It's football season and usually football players play football during football season."
I'm not a doctor, but I have stayed in a Holiday Inn before. During the interview, Romo appeared extremely limited in his body movement. He even referenced to the panel that they shouldn't try to make him laugh.
Inside The NFL was rather sneaky, and the gem of the appearance occured slightly later in the show. They showed video of Romo getting up from his interview chair, and to say that he looked extremely hampered would be an understatement. Romo rose from the seat as gingerly as an old lady, and the impression was that it will be very difficult for him to absorb a game's worth of NFL hits. There were five full days before Monday night's kickoff however, and a kevlar vest (made by a company that endorses Michael Vick) and a serious pain numbing cocktail will still probably allow him to give it a go against Washington.
The team returns to practice today after two days off, so we will begin to learn more about his availability over the next few days.