Owens Should Heal Without Surgery

San Francisco receiver Terrell Owens’ broken collarbone probably will heal over the next four months without surgery.

Owens will sit out the 49ers’ final game and the Pro Bowl after breaking his collarbone in San Francisco’s 31-28 overtime victory over Philadelphia on Sunday. He will need at least three months of rest, but the 49ers don’t think Owens will need surgery, Coach Dennis Erickson said Monday.

Owens had 80 catches for 1,102 yards and nine touchdowns this season, his lowest totals since 1999. He still was selected for his fourth consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl.

Owens also might have played his last game for the 49ers, who drafted him in 1996. He will be a free agent this winter, and San Francisco isn’t expected to pay the large signing bonus Owens will command.

Though Erickson has claimed to enjoy coaching the controversial receiver this season, he wasn’t pleased to hear about Owens talking on a cellphone while standing on the 49er sideline in street clothes during the second half in Philadelphia.

“I don’t know who he was talking to or what he was doing,” Erickson said. “You would like people to be in the game a little more, but I don’t know what the situation was.”

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Philadelphia Eagle linebacker Carlos Emmons needs surgery on his broken left leg and will sit out the playoffs.

Emmons broke his fibula Sunday in the second quarter after he tackled 49er running back Kevan Barlow. He needed an air cast on the lower part of his leg and left on a cart.

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Three-time Pro Bowl tackle Lincoln Kennedy of the Oakland Raiders is retiring, ending his career after an injury-plagued 11th season.

The offensive right tackle, who has played through knee problems, a torn left calf and a variety of other injuries this season, limped off the field during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s 41-7 loss to Green Bay.

He is not expected to play Sunday, when the Raiders close out the season in San Diego.

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There don’t seem to be any storybook endings for the Arizona Cardinals. Not even a visit from safety-turned-soldier Pat Tillman could shake the Cardinals out of another monumental slump.

Coach Dave McGinnis said Monday that Tillman’s surprise visit with his former team before and after its 28-10 loss Sunday in Seattle helped put things in perspective though.

“For all the respect and love that all of us have for Pat Tillman and his brother [Kevin] and [wife] Marie, for what they did and the sacrifices they made ... believe me, if you have a chance to sit down and talk with them, that respect and that love and admiration increase tenfold,” McGinnis said.

The Tillman brothers served in the Middle East during the campaign in Iraq and now are stationed in Ft. Lewis, Wash., south of Seattle.