Tony Romo doesn’t need surgery, to miss about eight weeks

IRVING, Texas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo doesn’t need surgery to repair his fractured left clavicle.

Romo sent out a tweet Monday to say he won’t need surgery and to thank the fans for their prayers and support.

Romo suffered the injury in the third quarter of Sunday’s 20-10 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. He underwent further testing Monday morning to determine the extent of the damage and if surgery was needed.

Romo is still expected to be sidelined for eight weeks to allow the bone to heal.

Considering the Cowboys have a bye on Oct. 18, Romo would miss seven games as his return is currently pegged for the Nov. 22 game against the Miami Dolphins.

Backup Brandon Weeden is the starter going forward, beginning this Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Cowboys are looking to sign a backup quarterback in case Weeden gets hurt. The Cowboys only kept Romo and Weeden on the 53-man roster.

Alternatives include practice-squad quarterbacks Kellen Moore and Jameill Showers. But the Cowboys will also look for a veteran option.

The Cowboys will not rule out signing a free agent or adding a quarterback via trade, vice president Stephen Jones said during a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan.

“We’ve been hard at it,” Jones said. “I don’t think it’s fair to throw out any names yet. There’s a lot of ways to acquire players. You can get them off the street. You can get them off of other people’s practice squads. You can trade for them. There’s a lot of ways to look at it.

“Certainly we’re going to uncover every stone knowing that Tony is probably going to be out for weeks here. We’ve got to take a look at and see here what’s going to be the alternative if Brandon were to have an injury, God forbid, but if he were to have an injury who’s up next. So, we’re certainly looking at that. Probably, we’ll end up having some guys to work out over the next day or two and we’ll go from there and make a decision from there.”

Jones wouldn’t rule out asking former Cowboys backup quarterback Kyle Orton to come out of retirement.

“I wouldn’t rule anybody out.” Jones said. “Anybody who’s had success and played well in the NFL and isn’t on a team or is on another team that might be, that team might be willing to move him, we’ll look at him.”

But the Cowboys have faith in Weeden as starter. The question is, can he win games?

A bust as the No. 22 overall pick for the Browns in 2012, Weeden is 5-16 as a starter in his career. He has an eight-game losing streak, with his last victory coming in a 30-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 9, 2012.

The Cowboys are 6-9 in the 15 games they have played without Romo since he became the starter in 2006.

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