Tony Romo: Season far from being over for Cowboys

IRVING, Texas -- For seven straight games, quarterbackTony Romo felt helpless as the Dallas Cowboys lost every game he missed because of a broken collarbone.

Romo will make his return Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, and with the Cowboys at 2-7, he knows they need to start putting together some wins.

"I think anytime you're losing in the National Football League, it's tough on everybody," Romo said. "Sometimes when you're not able to help your team as far as physically being out on the field, but the guys left it out on the field. I'm really inspired by the way they just committed every week. And obviously the results weren't exactly the way they wanted or anything, but I think when you watch how they play, I think it gives us a great opportunity to still go out and accomplish the goals. You just have very little room for error."

Despite his clever tweet on Tuesday, Romo said his focus is only on beating the Dolphins, not stringing together a bunch of wins to put the Cowboys in contention for the playoffs.

Romo said his concern is not so much the health of his collarbone but the rust from not playing in two months. He did not practice Wednesday, following the same routine he has had since last season to help preserve and strengthen his back. He will return to practice Thursday on a full-time basis.

He said the work with the scout team the last two weeks while being on the injured reserve/designated to return list was helpful but nothing like a full offseason or training camp.

"There's a lot of situational thinking that goes into it that I feel like are an advantage for some of the top quarterbacks, and those are the things that you have to really address because they come up every day when you're in camp or playing football games," Romo said. "When you're not, they can be overshadowed by some other things, and when you do come back you have to work on technique, footwork, just some of the normal things, and in that sometimes you lose the situational thinking in that process. You still have to fight that battle. That will be the biggest issue."

The time off has helped Romo's back. He said he feels as good now than he has at any time since having two surgeries in 2013. He acknowledged there is a greater risk that he can break the collarbone again, but he won't know how it will respond until he gets hit.

"But you got to play," Romo said. "You don't have much wiggle room."

Coach Jason Garrett said he doesn't want Romo to feel like he needs to "save the day" when he comes back and do too much.

"Do your job," Garrett said. "You're 1/11th of the offense. You're 1/11th of the defense. You're 1/11th of the special teams unit that you're on. Do your job. Know your job. Do your job. Be dependable. Be accountable. All those things. Those are messages we're constantly trying to instill in your guys. When you have a great competitive spirit, sometimes you want to do more. And that's a good thing for your team. You want to have guys like that, but at the same time, you got to go back and do what you're supposed to do, and Tony really understands that balance."

In the Cowboys' two wins to start the season, Romo had three touchdown passes and two interceptions. His replacements, Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden, who was released Tuesday, combined for six touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

"For me, it's about going out and being yourself and really just being the quarterback for this team," Romo said. "I don't have to do anything more. And I think our team is plenty good enough to go out and compete and give ourselves opportunities to win."

Despite the losing streak, Romo doesn't see a team beaten down.

"I think the guys understand where we're at," Romo said. "I think they also understand that the season is not over. It's far from it. I think right now we just need to understand that we're getting started, and we've got to go do our job and do it to the best of our ability and start getting this thing on the roll."