Irving, Texas ? Tony Romo doesn’t need surgery on his broken left collarbone, just time for it to heal.

He may have all the way until the spring minicamp.

Romo is expected to miss between six and eight weeks, which could be an eternity for the 1-5 Dallas Cowboys. If their playoff hopes aren’t already squelched, they likely will be by the time their Pro Bowl quarterback is healthy again. So perhaps team owner Jerry Jones will end up telling Romo to call it a season and rest up for 2011.

Think about it: Considering how wretched the Cowboys were led by their star, it seems unlikely they will turn things around while led by 38-year-old backup Jon Kitna, who hadn’t thrown a pass in more than two years before Monday night and whose last gig as a starter was on the Detroit club that went winless in 2008.

“We’re not going to stop right now and give up or quit or whine or even make excuses,” coach Wade Phillips said Tuesday. “You’ve just got to go forward. That’s what we have to do. I think our guys will band together.”

Dallas opened training camp being hyped as favorites to reach the Super Bowl, which will be played at Jones’ $1.2 billion stadium.