IRVING, Texas -- Tony Romo looked like the man in charge of the Dallas offence for the first off-season practice until the drills got a little more competitive. Five months removed from back surgery, Romo donned a baseball cap for 11-on-11 work. Theres no use in rushing, as coach Jason Garrett has been saying for weeks. Romo echoed that talk Tuesday in his first extensive interview since sustaining a herniated disk against Washington and missing the finale against Philadelphia with a playoff berth on the line. "I dont know that theres anything you cant do," the 34-year-old said in the locker room after practice. "You just want to make sure you dont put a high volume of numbers on it yet." For example, Romo says he has thrown at full velocity -- just not very often -- in his continuing recovery from surgery Dec. 27. That came two days before he watched from home while the Cowboys fell to the Eagles in a third straight season-ending loss that put them at 8-8 and kept them out of the post-season. "Its very difficult to watch," said Romo, who was under centre for season-finale losses at the New York Giants and Washington the previous two seasons, and for another one at Philadelphia in 2008. "That one obviously is out of your control. Thats what made it hard. Its amazing how big of a fan you become, rooting and excited about every little thing." Romo was further along Tuesday than he was a year ago, when he had surgery to remove a cyst on his back in April and missed all the off-season practices. He went to California ahead of his teammates for some intense conditioning work before training camp, and spent the first few weeks catching up. "Im actually excited just about comparative to last year where youre just going into camp without having had a rep in the off-season," Romo said. "Theres some things I want to work on, and Ive been doing that in small doses. Now well get that ramped up here." Romo has a new play caller for the third straight season in Scott Linehan, who was offensive co-ordinator in Detroit before coach Jim Schwartz was fired after last season. Linehan and Garrett worked together for a season in Miami almost a decade ago, and plenty of the language will be the same. The new passing game co-ordinator is in no hurry to see up close all the things his new primary weapon can do. "Were early," Linehan said. "And the mental game that hes getting done with us and the meetings and the last four or five weeks when we started our off-season program has been huge. I know hes getting himself ready to go." There are daily discussions over whats next for Romo. "Certainly we anticipate him being ready to go at training camp," Garrett said. "Well evaluate how he did today, say, What do you think? Should we stick with the same plan tomorrow? What do you think about Thursday? Youre always trying to push the limit as best you can, but you dont want to do something where you go across that line and they have setbacks." NOTES: The Cowboys waived injured rookie free agent tight end Evan Wilson and signed guard Tyronne Green, a fourth-round pick by San Diego in 2009. Green has 28 starts in 41 career games. He was with New England part of last season but didnt play. Pedro Martinez Jersey . With his father watching from the stands, Harrison homered, doubled, single and drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Pirates to a 8-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. Todd Frazier Jersey .J. -- John Elway says Peyton Manning cannot stamp himself as the greatest quarterback in NFL history even if he wins the Super Bowl on Sunday. http://www.metsrookiestore.com/Mets-Yoen...es-Kids-Jersey/. This was one of them. Omar Infante homered and tied a career high with six RBIs to carry the Kansas City Royals over the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 on Sunday. Jacob deGrom Jersey . - The Detroit Lions have 13 takeaways this season — three less than all of last season — and the defence isnt the only unit pleased with the performance. Amed Rosario Jersey .Y. -- The Montreal Canadiens have had few reasons to celebrate this season as they have been mired near the basement of the Eastern Conference.As one AL East rival exits the Bronx, another enters a new series at Yankee Stadium. This time the Tampa Bay Rays take a turn against the New York Yankees Monday in the opener of a three-game set. The Yankees are 6-6 in a stretch of 15 consecutive games against division opponents and lost their third straight series this weekend versus the despised Boston Red Sox. You can watch the game live on TSN and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. Boston needed a ninth-inning home run to beat the Yankees on Saturday, then closed the series with Sunday nights 8-5 victory. Yankees starter Chase Whitley struggled to the tune of five runs and eight hits in four innings for New York, losers in six of the past eight games. Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran each hit solo homers in defeat. "I always believe that when you play against teams that are in your division, those are series that youve got to win," said Beltran, who has been dealing with soreness in his forearm and had three hits. "We missed this one." Teixeira has homered in four of his last eight games and has hit safely in 14 of the previous 17 contests. New York is still just two games off the AL East lead. David Phelps tries to pitch the Yankees back to respectability when he toes the rubber Monday night. Phelps is 2-0 in his last three starts and did not figure into the decision of a 7-6 loss at Toronto last Tuesday, as he permitted six runs and eight hits in five innings. Phelps has allowed 15 runs in his last four starts and is 3-4 with a 4.35 earned run average this season. The right-hander has faced Tampa Bay eight times (4 starts) in his career and is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA. Tampa Bay has been playing better baseball of late, but the club is still last in the division at 10 games off the pace. The Rays opened an 11-game road trip by taking three of four games againsst the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, and won the series with Sundays 12-7 offensive outburst.dddddddddddd Kevin Kiermaier hit a solo home run and Logan Forsythe added a two-run shot during a seven-run seventh inning for the Rays, who have won six of their last nine games. Matt Joyce had a big game by going 5-for-6 with two homers, three runs scored and four RBI. Joyce matched a Rays single-game record with five hits and 12 total bases. His shot in the third inning ended a drought of 124 at-bats without a homer. "You really dont have too many days like that," Joyce said. "Its nice to have one of those days and enjoy it." Ben Zobrist also went deep and recorded three hits, two RBI and two runs scored in the win. Rays starting pitcher Alex Cobb picked up the win and was reached for four runs (3 earned) in five innings. The Rays have won five of their last seven road games and will also visit Detroit for four games on this road trip. They are 16-24 as the guest. Tampa Bay has scored at least five runs in 12 of the last 18 games, going 11-7 in that stretch. Chris Archer hopes to get some more of that run support when he takes the mound in the Bronx. The Rays have scored exactly five runs in each of Archers last two starts, including a 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh last Tuesday. Archer fell to 1-3 in his last four decisions after giving up five runs -- four earned -- in seven innings of work. Archer, who is 4-5 with a 3.29 ERA and has thrown six-plus innings six times in the past seven appearances, will put his unblemished mark against the Yankees on the line Monday. He has won all four of his starts in this series and has a 1.26 ERA across 28 2/3 innings. The Rays have won four of seven meetings with the Yankees this season and took two of three matchups in the Bronx from May 2-4. ' ' '