The Dallas Cowboys lost to NFC East division foes the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving Day in a fashion wholly unexpected by most pundits and members of the media.
Dallas, widely expected to take it to the Eagles and head home on Thursday, tired and hungry, ready to gorge themselves on turkey and mashed potatoes, made all the more delicious by the win they were almost sure to walk away from AT&T Stadium with, instead limped to their respective residences, humbled, bitter and back a game in the division.
Seemingly, a big part of their inability to handle Philadelphia was the poor effort put forth by quarterback Tony Romo, who, prior to the game, had been 6-1 lifetime on Thanksgiving, but spent much of the day dodging phantom - and real - pressure and sailing wobbly passes.
"There's no excuses," Romo said, according to Keith Whitmire of FOX Sports Southwest. "They [the Eagles] made things a little bit tougher. I missed a couple of throws that I normally won't miss. I'll be better at that the rest of the year, I know that for sure."
But could Romo's ineffective showing - his final stat line was 18 of 29 for 199 yards and two interceptions, per ESPN - have been the direct result of a bad back, the severity of which Romo, owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jason Garrett have all done their best to downplay - and which could eventually spell premature doom for the 34-year-old's career?
"All indications all week long was that he came out of the [Sunday night] game clean and went through the work like everybody else did this week and seemed good coming into the ballgame," said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
Romo was forced to undergo disc surgery last December, only a year after having back surgery to remove a cyst in 2013. He usually takes Wednesdays off each week to rest, but was unable to do so this week due to the quick turnaround.
Romo did his best to downplay his poor showing and the fact that he, and the team, had to deal with a short week in preparation for the game.
"They had a short week, too," Romo said, referring to the Eagles. "It was definitely short, just from the Sunday night game, coming from here. I don't think that that had much to do with the outcome of the game. I think that they just played better than us. They took it to us."
He also did his best to downplay the notion that he had to take a pain-killing injection just to get himself out on the field.
"You always are taking stuff," Romo said. "But that's not an excuse. It would be doing a disservice to the way that the Eagles played if you thought it was about something else."
