Warner Could Miss Six Weeks

St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner is expected to miss five to six weeks after undergoing surgery Tuesday to repair the broken little finger on his throwing hand.

Team physician George Paletta said two pins were placed into the broken bone during the 35-minute procedure.

Paletta said doctors will remove the pins in three weeks and Warner will then begin physical therapy.

Warner said Monday he planned to return to the field as soon as the pins were removed, or in “three weeks and a day.” But Paletta said five to six weeks was a more realistic timetable, and even that was tentative.

“It depends on adequate bone healing, demonstrated by X-rays,” Paletta said.

Doctors originally thought Warner wouldn’t need surgery after looking at X-rays Sunday, which showed the bone’s fractured pieces aligned. X-rays taken Monday showed the fractured pieces had moved apart.

*

Doctors say it will take four to six weeks for Cade McNown’s separated shoulder to heal, but the Chicago Bear quarterback has other ideas.

“If I can throw next week, I’ll start throwing next week,” McNown said. “I’m not going to be unsafe or anything, but as soon as I feel better, that’s when I’ll be out there again.”

McNown was injured in the second quarter Sunday as he tried to run out of bounds and was tackled by Philadelphia linebacker Mike Caldwell. His shoulder was driven into the concrete-like artificial turf at Veterans Stadium, a surface long regarded as the worst in the NFL.

Test results showed there’s no rotator cuff damage, but he does have a separated left shoulder. It will probably be 2 1/2 weeks before McNown can even throw again, trainer Tim Bream said.