National Football League

Tony Romo heads to injured reserve

Published Dec. 20, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

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After waiting two months to see if they could get two games out of Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys scrapped that plan Tuesday.

The Cowboys put Romo on injured reserve, which means he's done for the year. He will miss games Saturday night at Arizona and the finale at Philadelphia.

Romo broke his left collarbone Oct. 25. He needed rest, not surgery, for it to heal and all along was targeting this week for his return. The team made it possible by keeping him on the active roster.

Team owner Jerry Jones hinted this might happen when he said Sunday that Romo was ''still having sensitivity there'' and not ready to play. Interim coach Jason Garrett was evasive Monday, but indicated Romo would try to practice. The move was announced before the club even hit the field.

Dallas could have freed a roster spot a long time ago, but wanted to give their franchise quarterback every chance to return. It was questionable from the start since the Cowboys were 1-5 coming out of the game he was injured. They dipped to 1-7 and have since been eliminated from the playoffs and guaranteed a losing record.

Besides, Jon Kitna has done well in Romo's place.

Kitna is 4-4, including 4-2 since Garrett took over for fired coach Wade Phillips. Record aside, Kitna's statistics are quite similar to Romo's this season. There's no threat of a QB controversy because Kitna will be 39 next season and Romo remains the face of the franchise.

Kitna is expected to start the final two games. Garrett has shown little interest in using second-year Stephen McGee.

The Cowboys promoted Teddy Williams from the practice squad to take Romo's place. He hasn't played organized football since high school, having concentrated on track while at Texas-San Antonio.

Williams had been working at cornerback since being signed during training camp in San Antonio, but last week was switched to receiver because of a series of injuries there.

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