The Dallas Cowboys lost their Quarterback, Dak Prescott, to a broken thumb. Jerry Jones keeps insisting that Dak’s bones can magically heal in four weeks. Is this really possible, or even advisable?
Broken bones are a problem people have been dealing with since the dawn of time. Not everyone is unlucky enough to break a bone thankfully. So, not everyone understands how painful it can be. As someone who has broken several bones myself, I can promise you it’s not a pleasant experience. Those of you that haven’t should count yourselves as lucky.
It seems Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones is one of those lucky people. He insists that Dak Prescott will be back in four weeks from the injury. He just doesn’t quite understand how that exquisite pain of breaking a bone has a way of lingering. For thousands of years, doctors have understood one very simple thing about most breaks. They take six to eight weeks to heal, and that’s just to get the bone to start regrowing so you can start working your now atrophied muscles back into shape. There is a much longer process for it to fully heal.
The Thumb Is Kind Of Important
Dak didn’t just break any bone, he broke probably the single most important bone in his body as a Quarterback. Without a strong thumb, that football won’t have the same zip on it. It will most likely be wildly inaccurate as well.
If the Cowboys try and rush Dak back it could get ugly real fast. It feels like a setup for Dak to fail. Why would Jerry do that? Excuse me while I assume my Brian Windhorst pose.
The Cowboys Have A History: Don’t Believe The Hype
Jerry has a long history of tall tales. These tall tales have had a glaring and negative effect on this team he claims to love. He’s tried to rush players back and encourage them to ignore doctors before. This is not new. He rushed tony Romo back from a spinal injury, only for him to re-injure it. That injury is also the main factor in what ended his career.
Say it with me, Jerry is NOT a doctor. He’s not even the patient. Do not listen to him. When it comes to anything coming out of Jerry’s mouth, we have to take it with a grain of salt. In other words, don’t believe the hype…
The Hard Truth Is That There Is No Substitute For Time And Rest
Six to Eight weeks is the hard truth no one seems to want to admit here. Yes, some people can be OK in six weeks, but no one is healing in four. It’s just not happening. I do understand they have some of the best medical care and drugs to alleviate his pain, but again we’re talking about the thumb, on his throwing hand no less. The thumb does the lion’s share of the work when you grip a football. Your lazy fingers get to share the load, while the thumb carries its share of the weight all by itself? Put some respect on your thumbs.
Muscles begin to atrophy quickly when a part of your body has to be immobilized for any period. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Now obviously an athlete like a football player is going to have a lot less atrophying than you or I would. That doesn’t mean they won’t still have some. Those muscles can’t even start to be worked back into shape again until the thumb is no longer immobilized.
If by some miracle that’s only two weeks, Dak still has the prospect of a painful rehab just to try and hold that football in four weeks. I don’t see how throwing an accurate football in that timeframe is even possible, without some kind of miracle involved. Even after the six to eight weeks there could be lingering pain for up to a year with any break.
Realistically, and as painful as this may sound to some Cowboys fans, Dak shouldn’t come back until after the bye. Now maybe he does come back before that, but I think he’s taking a big risk if he does. I’m very worried it will end badly and the Cowboys will be just back where they started with Cooper Rush. Because if he comes back it looks like there are just two outcomes. Either he can’t throw the ball and looks terrible, or he re-injures it. There won’t be much in-between if he’s rushed back to the field.
