Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will reportedly miss the remainder of the season because of a back injury. The injury is expected to require season-ending surgery, ESPN reports.
"Romo has a herniated disk in the lumbar region and needs to have surgery, a source told ESPN Senior NFL Insider Chris Mortensen," according to ESPN.
Recovery time for the injury is typically three to four months, according to what Dr. Michael Kaplan told ESPN. Still, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett declined to rule out Romo for the rest of the season and chose to list Romo as day-to-day.
"We have not made that determination at all at this point," Garrett said, via ESPN, when asked if Romo was indeed done for the season. "Like with any player, the day after a game you just want to see what the injury is and we've done that with Tony and we want to get him involved in treatment as quickly as we can and we started that process."
Romo admitted his back was sore going into Sunday's game against Washington. He also said he thought the injury occurred after taking a hit in the first half of the game.
"That triggered it a little bit," Romo said on Sunday. "Whatever the kid did on that one play, it really sent something that didn't feel comfortable. But it's in a completely different spot than the back stuff I had last year, so that's a good sign."
If Romo is unable to suit up for next week against the Philadelphia Eagles, Kyle Orton will start under center. With the NFC East title - and a playoff spot - on the line, Garrett voiced his confidence in his veteran backup.
"Feel great about Kyle Orton," said Garrett. "We'll evaluate Tony on a day by day this week. In the meantime Kyle will be the guy that's taking the snaps until Tony is ready to go. Again that's what we do at every position is get ready to go and get ready for the next opportunity that we have and obviously it's Philadelphia Sunday night."