Tony Romo to make debut Aug. 16
SAN DIEGO -- Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett confirmed that quarterback Tony Romo will not play in Thursday's preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers.
Romo will make his preseason debut Aug. 16 against the Baltimore Ravens at AT&T Stadium.
With Romo sitting, Brandon Weeden will start. Typically the starters play a series or two in the first preseason game. This is the second straight year Romo will miss the Cowboys' first preseason game, skipping the Hall of Fame Game in 2013 against the Miami Dolphins.
The Cowboys and Romo have been conservative in their training camp approach with the quarterback coming off back surgery in December. He did not take any competitive snaps in the spring and has taken part in six of the Cowboys' nine padded practices.
With the way the schedule falls, Romo is expected to return to practice Saturday after a four-day break. The Cowboys are off Monday and will practice against the Oakland Raiders on Aug. 12-13 in Oxnard, California, before flying home Aug. 15.
Unofficially, Romo has completed 65 of 95 passes in team and seven-on-seven drills in camp. Quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson said he thought Romo has been "a little tentative" in throwing deep balls.
Romo has had a few long throws flutter, but one still ended up as a touchdown after he slid to his left and threw to Cole Beasley on his right in Monday's practice.
"Hopefully he's going to get four days off now because he won't do much [Tuesday], we travel Wednesday, play the game, and then they're off on Friday," Wilson said after Tuesday's walk-through. "Hopefully with four days of complete rehab he can come back on Saturday and start to look like his old self completely."
