Romo's Return, Down NFC East Gives Staubach a Little Hope

No team has ever overcome a 2-6 start to make the playoffs, but so long as the Cowboys reside in the NFC East andso long as they’re getting Tony Romo back next week, Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach isn’t ready to totally count the reigning division champions out.

“Tony, I mean, he’s the guy,” Staubach said, per Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas. “He’s just a fantastic player. He’s proven that. I think they look up to him and miss him. It’s a pretty darn good football team they have. They lost some tough games but I think they got a little shot in the arm with Dez [Bryant] the last couple weeks and now Tony coming back, it makes a difference.

“The division is still kind of shaky so they’re not out of it by any means at 2-6, which is hard to believe, but I think they can do it.”

As always, Romo has a lot of support in former Cowboys quarterbacks. Troy Aikman has offered similar thoughts on the NFC East, and gone so far as to say he doesn’t think rust will be a factor when Romo does return--and the idea is certainly helped by the fact that Romo will have two weeks of practice under his belt by the beginning of next week.

Staubach doesn’t see rust being much of a problem, either.

“I’m sure with his legs, he’s kept that part of his body up,” Staubach said. “It’ll take some time to get into the groove, but he’s still out there doing things. He’s still watching film. When the collarbone is healthy, he’ll be very effective as soon as he gets out there.”