Bryant: Romo 'put on that Michael Jordan,' leading Cowboys despite sickness
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tony Romo overcame a case of the stomach flu to help lead the Dallas Cowboys to a 31-24 victory over Oakland Thursday at AT&T Stadium.
As expected, two of Romo’s biggest fans were impressed with the team’s franchise quarterback.
“Tony was very sick today, having real terrible stomach issues,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “He’d had trouble with it during the night and by the way wasn’t going to let that stop him. But he certainly had to get some special attention before he went out there and played. But we thought that wouldn’t affect his play. It didn’t. He’s just a gamer. He’s showing us time and time again.
“He protected the ball out there today. He played within himself. I was proud to see him take over, which he does, when you see out of empty and you’re into the second quarter. That was Mr. Romo.
“I was proud to see him feel that way about the team, his ability to lead the team. I was very proud of him. … Tony did a great job. That was inspirational. I thought it affected the outcome of the game.”
Dez Bryant took things a step further, comparing Romo’s outing to Michael Jordan playing with the flu during Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals.
“He kind of put on that Michael Jordan that is sick and sticking it out and pulling this W out for us,” Bryant said.
Romo shot down that comparison, saying he wasn’t nearly as sick as Jordan was in 1997.
Bryant and Jones both specifically praised Romo’s play during the final drive of the first half. The Cowboys drove 70 yards in eight plays to score on a DeMarco Murray four-yard carry and pull within 21-14 at halftime.
Romo was 5-of-7 passing for 71 yards on that drive.
“He’s already a beast, but beast times two comes out [in that situation],” Bryant said. “That’s exactly what he showed. Whenever he’s doing things like that it just boosts every one of these guys up and makes them want to play harder, bring out something that we didn’t know that we had.”
Romo completed 23-of-32 passes for 225 yards and one touchdown. He completed all 12 of his pass attempts in the second half. The victory improved Romo to 6-1 in Thanksgiving Day starts and 24-5 in November games.
Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
