NFL | Broken finger sidelines Cowboys' Tony Romo

IRVING, Texas — The already slumping Dallas Cowboys must endure a few games without Tony Romo, a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback who has a broken little finger on his throwing hand.

There was indeed something wrong when Romo badly missed on his last two pass attempts to Terrell Owens in a 30-24 overtime loss at Arizona on Sunday, the Cowboys' second defeat in three games. Coach Wade Phillips said Monday that Romo broke the finger on the first play of OT.

Brad Johnson, a 40-year-old backup whose last start was in 2006 for Minnesota, takes over Sunday when Dallas plays in St. Louis.

Romo, 28, is expected to be out for about four weeks.

Phillips said Romo won't need surgery, and the timing of his return "depends on how fast that heals." The Cowboys have three games before an open date Nov. 9.

Chiefs' Johnson faces charge

For the third time since becoming a Kansas City Chief, running back Larry Johnson is in a scrape with the law.

Johnson faces a Dec. 3 date in Kansas City Municipal Court on a charge of simple assault. The municipal violation, filed early last month, stemmed from an incident Feb. 24, in which a 26-year-old woman accused Johnson, 28, of using his open hand to push the left side of her head in a nightclub, according to court and police documents obtained by The Kansas City Star.

Notes

• One surgery wasn't enough to fix Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning's left knee. Colts coach Tony Dungy confirmed, after nearly two months of deflecting questions, the 32-year-old Manning was operated on a second time before returning to the field in late August.

• Jacksonville offensive tackle Richard Collier, 26, paralyzed from the waist down after a shooting in September, has been released from the hospital. Collier will continue his recovery at an undisclosed location because the person who shot him remains at large.

• A judge in Fayetteville, Ark., accepted Jacksonville receiver Matt Jones into a drug-treatment program that could erase a felony cocaine charge against the ex-Arkansas quarterback.

Jones, 25, must participate in league-sponsored substance-abuse counseling and random drug testing through the end of the season, then return to Fayetteville to complete an intervention program, Judge Mary Ann Gunn said.

• Chicago offensive lineman Terrence Metcalf, 30, was suspended for four games for violating the league's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

• John Madden, 72, will miss calling a game this weekend after working 476 in a row.

The "Sunday Night Football" analyst, who travels by bus because of a fear of flying, will take a break to spend time with his family instead of making three consecutive cross-country trips, NBC officials said.