Owens Fined for Fashion, Not Autograph

Terrell Owens was fined $5,000 Thursday by the NFL -- for an untucked shirttail, not for his autograph touchdown celebration.

Owens wasn’t punished for pulling a pen from his sock to sign the football after a touchdown catch in the San Francisco 49ers’ 28-21 victory over Seattle on Monday night. Instead, the league sent him a letter containing a much more common, minor fine for equipment violations.

Owens called it “nonsense ... a very nit-picky thing.”

“It states on the notice that I specifically wore my shirt out during the game,” Owens said. “I constantly tucked it in throughout the course of the game, and people were tugging on me, and it just came out.”

After beating cornerback Shawn Springs for the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, Owens produced a pen, signed the football and presented it to his financial advisor in the front row.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Owens won’t be fined or suspended for the move, but similar displays will be punished.

*

Oakland Raider cornerback Charles Woodson was upgraded to probable for Sunday’s game against San Diego.

Woodson, a four-time all-pro, hasn’t played or practiced with the Raiders since injuring his shoulder in the second quarter of Oakland’s victory over Pittsburgh on Sept. 15.

But Woodson has been working out on his own for several days, and has shown enough progress.

*

Atlanta Falcon Coach Dan Reeves upgraded Michael Vick from questionable to probable after the quarterback practiced without pain.

Vick, who suffered a sprain in his right, non-throwing shoulder in an Oct. 6 loss to Tampa Bay, missed last week’s 17-10 win at New York.

*

Insisting that their teammate got a “raw deal,” the Denver Broncos plan to chip in to help cover the salary Kenoy Kennedy will lose during a suspension.

Kennedy was suspended without pay for one game because of his helmet-to-helmet hit on Miami receiver Chris Chambers on Sunday night. The suspension will cost Kennedy $25,294.

Including two earlier fines this season, Kennedy has been fined a total of $42,794 -- nearly 10% of his $430,000 base salary.

*

Make it three consecutive seasons that former all-pro offensive lineman Leon Searcy has missed because of injuries. Searcy underwent surgery to repair a torn right triceps tendon and will not play this season. The 32-year-old Searcy was competing for a starting job with the Miami Dolphins when he got hurt Aug. 29.... Quarterback Joe Germaine, a former Ohio State standout, was signed to the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad. The team released cornerback LaVar Glover.