AROUND THE NFL : Majkowski of Packers Has Shoulder Surgery

Green Bay Packers quarterback Don Majkowski, who has not played since Nov. 18, underwent arthroscopic surgery today on his right shoulder in San Diego, Coach Lindy Infante said.

The surgery is expected to sideline Majkowski for the rest of the season.

Infante issued a statement this morning confirming the operation, but he refused to discuss the matter further until after the team’s practice later in the day.

Majkowski traveled Wednesday to San Diego for an examination by specialist Gary Losse.

The quarterback’s injury had been diagnosed earlier as a bruised rotator cuff. But Majkowski’s agent, Bob Woolf, said Wednesday that doctors suspected the rotator cuff might be causing his client pain because of a calcium buildup stemming from a shoulder separation suffered in his senior year in college.

“The arm hasn’t progressed as we had hoped,” Infante said Wednesday. “It’s been more a lingering injury than we expected. We had expected it to be one week.”

After Majkowski injured his shoulder in a game against Phoenix, Anthony Dilweg took over. He will start in Sunday’s game against Philadelphia.

Without Majkowski, the Packers have lost two straight. Dilweg completed only 6 of 22 passes against the Seahawks last week and was replaced in the second half by third-string quarterback Blair Kiel, who hadn’t thrown an NFL pass in three years.

Kiel led the Packers to two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the 20-14 loss.

The Packers are 2-3 with Dilweg as a starter but have not scored an offensive touchdown with him at quarterback in their last two games.

San Francisco 49er Jerry Rice, the NFL’s leading receiver, says the defending Super Bowl champion doesn’t pass enough.

“I’m surprised whenever I go into a ballgame and I catch one ball before halftime,” Rice said in a report published today. “We try to focus in on the run, but I think we have really gotten away from the pass.”

Rice made the comments in a copyright story in The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif., two weeks after running back Roger Craig complained about what he called the 49ers’ lack of commitment to the running game.

Although he leads the league with 82 receptions, 1,238 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns, Rice has gone four games without a touchdown. He gained 101 yards on eight receptions in last Sunday’s 20-17 overtime victory at Cincinnati.