Aikman to Sit Out Game

Another round of tests on Troy Aikman in Los Angeles indicate he should be able to resume playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys without any problems.

It just won’t be this weekend.

Aikman, who had concussions on Oct. 31 and Nov. 8, will miss a second consecutive game Sunday when Dallas plays the Arizona Cardinals. Cowboy owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday that it’s too soon to know whether Aikman will play four days later in a Thanksgiving game at home against the Miami Dolphins.

Meanwhile, Emmitt Smith, who has a broken right hand, will practice in a cast similar to the one used by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Warren Sapp. Smith’s status for Sunday depends on how well the cast works. The status of receiver Michael Irvin, who has a neck injury, is much shakier. Jones said there is no timetable for either Irvin’s return or a decision on whether he’ll retire.

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Jeff Hostetler, who hasn’t played since 1997, worked out for the San Francisco 49ers in a sign the club might add a veteran quarterback in the event injured Steve Young can’t return.

General Manager Bill Walsh said Hostetler, 38, wasn’t available to be signed now because of family obligations, but the club would consider adding him to the roster later if circumstances dictated such a move.

Meanwhile, suspended running back Lawrence Phillips will be cut as soon as the 49ers determine the effect on their salary cap. If Phillips is released and signed by another team, the $212,500 half of his bonus to be counted against next year’s cap would be counted this year. That would take up nearly all available room the team now has under the cap.

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The pregnant girlfriend of Carolina receiver Rae Carruth was critically wounded in a shooting Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., and police were trying to determine if the player knew anything about the crime.

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Linebacker Leonard Little, suspended for the first eight games for his involvement in a 1998 fatal accident, was activated by the St. Louis Rams. The Rams also requested a one-week roster exemption for kickoff returner Tony Horne, reinstated by the NFL after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. . . . After working out four kickers, the Chicago Bears decided to stick with Chris Boniol. . . . Clemente Brown Jr., the informer who helped police arrest football Lawrence Taylor in an undercover drug sting in Largo, Fla., has fled to avoid testifying in the Nov. 30 trial and is wanted by police.