Cowboys' Romo not back to normal, but continues to progress

While the great national debate over the relative merits of Tony Romo rages on, the Cowboys quarterback continues to make progress in his recovery from a rib injury.

"I'm not back to where everything is back to normal yet, but it's definitely on its way," Romo told the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram in Friday's edition. "It feels good to keep the improvement side of it continuing to go."

Romo is now 12 days removed from the Week 2 win against the 49ers in which he broke a rib and punctured a lung. He said he will take a painkilling injection before Sunday's matchup against the Lions -- he received the same injection before Week 3's win over the Redskins.

There are other signs of progress, too. Romo no longer has to sleep in a chair, which we imagine will improve the man's REM sleep. He will continue to wear a Kevlar jacket designed to protect his ribcage.

The Cowboys are expected to open up their playbook a bit more on Sunday after they kept things simple to help Romo get through the Redskins game.

"He's still having a little bit of pain on some throws, some movement throws, but he is moving, and I think by Sunday he'll be pretty close to normal," Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said.

We've lost track of where the Tony Romo backlash meter is at these days -- last time we checked he fell somewhere between epic tough guy and obvious sympathy hound. We're sure Romo doesn't care either way, his concerns rightfully focused on Ndamukong Suh's attempts to destroy him.