Tony Romo reportedly won't be playing in the Cowboys' regular-season finale vs. the Eagles. (USATSI)
If Dallas Cowboys are going to win the NFC East title, they're reportedly going have to do it without Tony Romo. Romo aggravated a prior back injury against Washington on Sunday and that injury will keep him from playing against Philadelphia in the Cowboys' regular-season finale next week, according to multiple reports.
Romo's injury is a hernitated disk that will require surgery, according to ESPN.com.
A high-ranking Cowboys official told CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora that "It's looking that way" as far as Romo being out for the Eagles game. However, the team hasn't made a final determination. La Canfora also reported that surgery on the herniated disk may be inevitable, but there's no date set and the Cowboys will explore every option in terms of Romo playing.
As far as coach Jason Garrett is concerned, Romo is day-to-day.
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"He's going to get treatment each day and we'll evaluate it on a day-by-day basis and see what his status is for Wednesday and this coming week," Garrett said at his news conference on Monday. Garrett's news conference was delayed almost 30 minutes as reports of a possible Romo injury began to emerge.
Garrett also refused to rule Romo out for Sunday's game against Philadelphia.
"We have not made that determination," Garrett said of Romo's playing status. "Like with any player the day after the game, we just want to see what the injury is."
However, Garrett did concede that the Cowboys would have to add another quarterback. Besides Romo, backup Kyle Orton is the only other quartback on the Cowboys roster.
Romo acknowledged Sunday that he injured the back against the Redskins, but he said it was just a "tweak."
"I tweaked it in the game and then for whatever reason then, the twist or whatever it was, definitely just made it not feel comfortable," Romo said.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also commented on Romo's back injury on Sunday, saying that the back injury was nothing new and that Romo had actually aggravated a prior injury.
Romo threw a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with under 90 seconds left against the Redskins on Sunday to give the Cowboys a dramatic win and keep their playoff hopes alive. The Dallas win set up a Week 17 showdown against Philadelphia in a de facto NFC East championship game.
The winner of Sunday night's game will win the division title and head for the playoffs. The loser will be done until September 2014.
With Romo most likely out, that means Orton will get the start for the Cowboys. "If Tony can't play, lets stick Kyle in there and go forward," Garrett said of his backup quarterback.
Orton has only thrown five passes this season and hasn't started a game since 2011. Coincidentally, Orton's last game as a starter also came in a regular-season finale. In the final week of the 2011 season, Orton led the Chiefs to a 7-3 win over Tim Tebow and the Broncos.
Since Romo became the Cowboys' full-time starter in 2006, Dallas is 6-7 in games that he didn't play.
The Cowboys will also be without linebacker Sean Lee, who will miss his second straight game with a neck injury.
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