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Owens Is Back but Not Talking

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From Associated Press

Terrell Owens ran routes, caught passes and joked with his Philadelphia Eagle teammates -- quite a display from the guy booted out of training camp a week ago.

Owens smiled, laughed and even tutored some of the younger receivers on the sidelines Wednesday.

“He was fine today. He did a great job,” said Coach Andy Reid, who had told the Pro Bowl receiver not to return for a week.

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But Owens couldn’t bring himself to talk to the player he needs to be in sync with the most -- quarterback Donovan McNabb.

For the first time, McNabb said he expected to talk to Owens at some point.

“I think it’s going to happen. I look forward to it happening,” McNabb said. “But, again, when we get to that situation, then that’s when we will handle it. I think what we are doing right now is easing into everything and just going out and working, trying to answer some of the questions one of us may have and then be able to work in the confines of our own football field.”

The feud between quarterback and receiver was set aside while they were on the field, at least. Owens ran routes and caught passes from McNabb. All that was missing were high-fives and hugs.

Owens met briefly with Reid before practice, a condition for his return. He didn’t answer questions from reporters after the morning practice.

Owens had said he would report and give his all but would not be happy because the Eagles would not redo his contract. The team refuses to budge from its hardline stance: Owens can play for them under the seven-year, $48.97-million deal he signed last year or he won’t play at all.

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Kicker Lawrence Tynes of the Kansas City Chiefs was charged with breaking a bouncer’s nose in a bar fight, a felony with a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years in prison.

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Tynes, the NFL’s first Scottish-born player, turned himself in Wednesday morning and made his first appearance in Pierce County Circuit Court in Ellsworth, Wis., on one felony count of substantial battery and one count of misdemeanor battery. He was released on a $15,000 signature bond.

The fight took place early Sunday at a bar in River Falls, Wis., where the Chiefs have their training camp. A police report said Tynes allegedly hit a bar patron in the face, then hit the bouncer in the nose.

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Quarterback Brett Favre has a chronic hip condition that nearly prevented him from being traded to the Green Bay Packers 13 years ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Favre and Ron Wolf, Green Bay’s former general manager, told the paper that the three-time most valuable player was diagnosed in 1992 with avascular necrosis, a condition that can lead to hip-replacement surgery.

“It’s a lack of blood supply to a socket,” Favre told the newspaper. “To this day, it bothers me from time to time, but before the draft I did MRIs for Atlanta, I did MRIs for Seattle, went through all kind of evaluations at the combine. A lot of teams were apprehensive because of that.”

Favre said that he injured the hip in the East-West Shrine game and that the condition is the same as the one that afflicted former football and baseball standout Bo Jackson.

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Favre was drafted by Atlanta and spent his first season as a backup with the Falcons before Wolf engineered the trade Feb. 10, 1992, that sent the quarterback to Green Bay for a first-round draft pick.

Favre said that when he arrived in Green Bay, the Packers examined him and predicted he would suffer from avascular necrosis and soon would be affected by it. Favre said he failed the physical but Wolf told the medical staff to pass him.

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Carolina signed Pro Bowl linebacker Dan Morgan to a five-year, $28-million contract extension.... Linebacker David Pollack, Cincinnati’s first-round pick and 17th selection overall, ended his 19-day holdout by signing a five-year contract.

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