Falcons, George Expected to Part

Suspended Atlanta quarterback Jeff George, though insisting he is still a Falcon, said Wednesday he’d just as soon play somewhere else.

And his agent acknowledged that George’s days in Atlanta are numbered after his sideline spat with Coach June Jones during Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia.

“It’s fairly clear he’s played his last game as a Falcon,” agent Leigh Steinberg said.

A source close to George said the Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens have expressed interest.

“Absolutely, if it’s not here, I’ll find a team,” George told a news conference. “There’s a team out here that’s in need of a quarterback, a quarterback away from the Super Bowl. There’s no doubt--I’m confident in my mind that I can lead them to where they want to go.”

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Concerned that Steve Young’s groin strain could linger, possibly for the rest of the season unless he was rested, San Francisco Coach George Seifert said Elvis Grbac would start at quarterback for the 49ers on Sunday against the Falcons. Young aggravated his groin injury last Sunday when he was pulled to the turf by Kevin Greene on the first play of what turned out to be a 23-7 loss to the Carolina Panthers. . . . Quarterback Erik Kramer, who has missed only one play in the Chicago Bears’ last 20 games, was hospitalized because of a herniated disk in his neck and will be sidelined indefinitely. Doctors told Bear Coach Dave Wannstedt that the injury shouldn’t be season-ending but didn’t know when Kramer would be ready to play. Dave Krieg, 37, will start Sunday against Oakland. . . . Steve Beuerlein, who shredded the NFL’s top-ranked defense in an emergency start at quarterback for the Panthers last Sunday against the 49ers, will play in place of the injured Kerry Collins for the second consecutive week. Collins, who suffered a sprained left knee Sept. 8, practiced Wednesday but was held out of full-speed team drills.