The end of the most unlikely quarterback to fill the Cowboys record book arrives without a football in sight. Tony Romo won't be carried triumphantly off the field, nor will he make a more ignoble limp to the bench to summon thoughts of a career having reached its inevitable completion.
He will simply be released.
This is sometimes the way it is in today's salary-cap NFL, but we kid ourselves when we think of John Elway going out with a smile from coast-to-coast and a Lombardi Trophy in hand. Maybe Tom Brady will make a similar exit -- it almost seems he insists upon it -- but the norm is that even the most decorated quarterbacks head either into retirement or onto a final NFL destination without trumpets blaring.