Romo day-to-day, gametime decision against Cardinals

Published Oct. 29, 2014 12:38 p.m. ET

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Tony Romo's status for Sunday's game against the Cardinals could be a gametime decision, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Wednesday.

Romo suffered a bruised back in Monday night's loss to Washington. The injury is not considered related to the disk surgery Romo underwent last December or the removal of a cyst on his back in April 2013.

Romo was able to re-enter Monday's game but further tests on his back were performed Monday.

Garrett said, as he does with most injuries, that there will be a daily assessment of Romo's progress before determining his fitness for Sunday's game.

"It's a day-by-day thing with Tony," Garrett said. "We'll see how he handles the pain and we'll see how functional he is as the week goes on to see what his availability is for this ballgame."

The Cowboys have a shortened work week because of playing on Monday night. Romo typically takes Wednesday practices off to rest his back but Garrett said he will be on the field doing rehab work.

"Today's going to be more of a jog-through practice for us, so [we] don't anticipate him doing a whole lot," Garrett said. "But as the week goes on hopefully he progresses and can handle the pain and can function."

Romo took a shot to dull the pain before re-entering Monday night's game. He has done that several times in the past in order to play, most notably in 2011 when he suffered a rib injury and a punctured lung and kept playing.

Asked how Romo is feeling, Garrett said, "Seems like he's doing OK."

Backup quarterback Brandon Weeden will get the first-team snaps in practice until Romo returns. Third-stringer Dustin Vaughan was inactive for Monday's game but will no doubt get more work until Romo's status is clearer.

"Today in practice we anticipate Weeden getting work, we anticipate Dustin Vaughan getting work," Garrett said. "We don't anticipate Romo doing much, but we'll see how he does with his rehab today and how he feels tomorrow and make those decisions as we go."

Weeden led the Cowboys on two scoring drives during his brief appearance Monday night. Romo's ineffectiveness when he returned to the game sparked debate about whether it was the correct move to re-insert an injured Romo in place of a healthy Weeden.

If Romo can't recover well enough to play Sunday, there will be no debate.

"He [Weeden] did a nice job," Garrett said. "I thought he had poise and composure. Ran the offense. Handled himself at the huddle, at the line of scrimmage. Made good decisions, made good throws. Really did a nice job."