Cowboys Hope for Quick Injury T.O.

The media coverage of the episode was mostly lighthearted, but Romo seemed offended that some reports questioned his priorities. He didn't speak to reporters last week, then said after Saturday's game: "The Jessica Simpson stuff, the T.O. stuff -- that stuff just comes up. The fact that the Dallas Cowboys were a terrible football team after [the loss to the Eagles], that's just stuff that people talk about."

He also said: "I don't care what the perception is of me. I know, at the end of the day, I'm trying to be this type of person. I'm going to try and do things the right way and I'm going to try and do everything I can to help this team win, and that's basically the way I live. So when people write bad stuff or things of that nature about me, okay. It's going to go away in two months, anyway. You're just trying to win football games. I let it roll right off my back. It doesn't really bother me. But it hurts me when it hurts people that are close to you."

Romo injured the thumb on his throwing hand during the Eagles game, and fumbled the opening snap of the Carolina game. But he threw the ball crisply against the Panthers. "Tony threw the ball well," Phillips said. "I think he was fine, at least 99 percent."

And Romo reiterated that he'd like to play against the Redskins. "That's who I am," Romo said Wednesday. "I'm competitive."

Before this recent flurry, there had been little in the way of controversy or concern for the Cowboys this season. Owens has had a superb season, justifying Jones's interest in signing him before last season on the heels of Owens's contentious parting with the Eagles. Jones's hiring of the laid-back Phillips, who failed to notch a playoff victory in previous NFL head coaching stops in Denver and Buffalo, also has paid dividends after former coach Bill Parcells's departure following last season.

But the Cowboys know the end of this story hasn't been written, and won't be written this weekend. The Redskins game could be about backup quarterback Brad Johnson throwing passes to veteran wide receiver Terry Glenn, who's scheduled to play after having missed the first 15 games because of two knee surgeries, and young wideouts Miles Austin and Sam Hurd. What ultimately will matter to the Cowboys is whether their Pro Bowl quarterback, Romo, will be able to throw passes to their Pro Bowl wide receiver, Owens, in the games that truly matter. The Cowboys are trying to be confident that things will turn out the way they want.

"It's not a big concern," linebacker Bradie James said. "To our knowledge, he is going to be gone for a couple of weeks. We've got one more game and then a bye, so that gives him three weeks to come back from his injury."