Team may punish Owens too

After the NFL fined Terrell Owens $35,000 for Saturday’s spitting incident, Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells said Monday the club might penalize Owens further.

“We don’t condone that kind of activity, that’s for sure,” Parcells said, though he added if the Cowboys do punish Owens, they won’t make that punishment public.

Owens, who was not ejected from the game against the Atlanta Falcons because officials did not see him spit in the face of defensive back DeAngelo Hall, was not suspended by the league. A suspension would have hurt Dallas (9-5) more because Owens is the team’s leading receiver and the Cowboys go into their next game needing a win to lock up the NFC East title.

And, considering that game is against his former team, Philadelphia, and will be nationally televised on Christmas afternoon, sitting out would have been a blow to Owens.

Owens is making $10 million this season as part of a three-year, $25-million contract signed in March.

Last season, Washington’s Sean Taylor was kicked out of a playoff game for spitting at Tampa Bay’s Michael Pittman and was later fined $17,000. In 1998, Tampa Bay linebacker Hardy Nickerson was fined the same amount for spitting on Carolina fullback William Floyd. And in 1997, Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski was fined $7,500 for spitting in the face of 49ers receiver J.J. Stokes.

Owens leads the NFL with 11 touchdown receptions -- the most by a Cowboys receiver since Michael Irvin in 1995 -- and is among the league’s best with 77 receptions and 1,040 yards.