IRVING, Texas (AP) — Tony Romo’s season is over, and theDallas Cowboys will have to win without
their star quarterback in athird straight winner-take-all finale.Coach Jason Garrett saidRomo had back
surgery Friday, and Kyle Orton will start when Dallasfaces Philadelphia on Sunday night with the NFC East
title and a playoffberth on the line.Garrett said Romo underwent treatment all weekin hopes of playing after
injuring his back in a season-saving 24-23victory against Washington. The winning touchdown came after the
injuryon Romo’s fourth-down pass to DeMarco Murray in the final 2 minutes.Romo injured himself when he
tripped over his foot while trying to escape pressure earlier in the fourth quarter."Hemight have had
his finest hour against the Redskins last week, what hedid at the end of that ballgame under the
circumstances," Garrett said."Pretty special."Romo lost the past two winner-take-all finales
—to the New York Giants two years ago and Washington last season. Healso lost to the Eagles in the same
situation in 2008.Philadelphia(9-6) is trying to complete a worst-to-first turnaround from a 4-12season
under first-year coach Chip Kelly. The Cowboys (8-7) want to end athree-year playoff drought a third 8-8
finish in Garrett’s three fullseasons as coach.Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on his radio showthat the team
and Romo hoped an injection would ease the pain enough toallow him to play. But his condition didn’t
improve, and Jones saiddoctors advised it was better not to wait for surgery.Jones said the hope is that
Romo will be ready for offseason practices in May.Romomissed all the offseason workouts this year after
surgery to remove acyst from his back in April. Garrett and Jones said the latest injury isnot related, but
wouldn’t be more specific about Friday’s procedure."Fromeverything I know from talking to several
people personally, there’s norelation between these and wouldn’t look to be … of the chronicnature,"
Jones said.Orton will make his first start since thefinale in 2011, when he finished the season in Kansas
City after gettingreplaced by Tim Tebow in Denver. He’s appeared in three games andthrown just 15 passes in
two seasons as Romo’s backup."We’ve beenoperating as if Kyle Orton is going to be our starting
quarterback,"Garrett said. "At the same time we were trying to do whatever we couldto see if we
could help Tony and get him back as quickly as possible. Wejust felt like this was the best course of
action."___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org___Follow Schuyler Dixon on Twitter at
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