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Tag Archives: Terrell Owens

Looks Like Owens Is Still A Star

“You and I both know that the one you are asking about all the time, if I have an answer for . . . if I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would already have had it, so the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something. Or it should.“

I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now … it’s been on every Cowboys related headline since the words were first spoken. Jerry Jones found a way to once again let himself be open for interpretation.

A lot of you have expressed confusion over what he said, but let’s look at it and see just how clearly he answered the T.O. question.

“If I gave you the answer you want to hear …” We all know that most of the beat writers that were at that press conference have been spouting off about the T.O. situation. Most of them, most of the time, have expressed their desire to see Owens released. So my take on this answer is that Jones is saying if we were going to hear Owens will be released, we would have heard it by now.

Your guess is really as good as mine, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet strongly in favor of keeping Owens after hearing a statement like that. Only time will tell if Jones backs it up.

Terrell Owens Safe In Dallas?

According to Calvin Watkins over at DMN, quite possibly.

I’ve got to admit that it does make more sense that Owens has some word that he will be around Dallas next year, though it’s still possible there’s another explanation for Owens’ agent not mentioning Owens in his contacts with all 32 teams that several of his other clients are available for a trade.

Those clients include, an likely feature, the usual suspects of Chad Johnson, Anquan Boldin, and Plaxico Burress. It’s no secret that any of those guys would be shopping themselves around, but Rosenhaus didn’t include T.O.

It’s either a ploy to show how confident he is that owens will be a Cowboy next year, which is rather dumb considering how he’ll look if he’s wrong, or he’s got some information that we don’t have and knows that Owens will be here. That certainly would make sense.

Check the article here.

Media Circus

It seems to be the fad of late to blame someone for the Cowboys woes in 2008, and this fine Pro Bowl weekend is no exception. A report by Jason Cole at YahooSports.com reveals that while the hustle and bustle of the Pro Bowl is under way, the Cowboys Owner/President/GM is meeting with several of his offensive players to discuss none other than … Terrell Owens.

According to his report, Jones is discussing issues that some players are having with Owens. These players are claiming that Owens is refusing to communicate with his offensive teammates in the locker room, in the huddle, or otherwise.

From this, and recent TMZ photos, we can see that the fad is still going strong. Owens was caught at a Las Vegas nightclub with fellow offensive teammates Patrick Crayton and Marion Barber recently, so apparently his newfound refusal to talk to his offensive teammates is selective.

The idea of Terrell Owens being at the center of a team’s controversy is nothing new, and some believe that because of his role in similar situations before he arrived in Dallas, that he is automatically to blame for what is happening here. Still others think that his baggage is being used to make him the easy target. It’s a fine line to walk between being hated and being loved, but Owens seems to be getting help from a select few that want to brand him as the fall of the Cowboys in 2008.

I’m not buying into the hype though. Jerry Jones may very well be meeting with players as Jason Cole suggests, but it proves more that Owens isn’t the problem in the Big D. Citing yet another “source”, Cole writes, “‘I really believe that Jerry is going to get the message from people that Owens just can’t work there,’ one of the sources said. ‘It’s just a bad, bad situation.’“

Seems to me that it’s already pretty easy to pass the blame to another in sports, what with the hounds in the media ready for the next juicy scoop, but it’s even easier to do it when you won’t introduce yourself as the source.

But I, for one, am hoping that these sources who anonymously try to destroy this team are found out soon, because they’re the real cancer of this team. Some would have you believe that it’s Tony Romo or Jason Witten, or even Jason Garrett, but whoever it is … they are indeed the cancer that is eating away at this team’s chance for glory.

The media though, they aren’t much better. And what really surprises me is that while they hunt for that next big scoop on the Cowboys controversy, none of them are willing to give up a source and land the biggest controversy for the Cowboys in this decade. Too bad … a classy reporter would end this charade. A classy reporter wouldn’t have gotten involved in it to begin with.



So The Reeves’ Deal Fell Through

Now that I’ve taken more than five minutes to form an opinion of this whole “Dan Reeves won’t join the Cowboys staff” ordeal, I’m going to try to lay this out as best I can.

There are a couple of possibilities, obviously, for what happened or not with this deal, while none of them leave us with the outcome that we mostly wanted, a good outcome is still possible in some cases.

The most shared opinion among fans, myself included, so far is that Jerry Jones wouldn’t give Reeves the kind of authority and control that he either was seeking, or felt he needed to do other parts of the proposed job effectively. Either way boils down to more of the same … and the beat goes on.

Dan Reeves could have merely been a consultant for a brief time while certain things were discussed. He already shared his own opinion of the team with the media, so it makes sense that he would be brought in to consult for a limited time during the regrouping sessions this off-season. Furthermore, it’s possible that the initial report out of San Francisco was either false, mistaken, or the result of the 49ers management turning down a delayed hire for Reeves while he consulted with the Cowboys first. Far fetched, I know.

If this is the case, then the Cowboys, in some way, should have let on to the fact that he wasn’t going to around long, especially after a report to the contrary surfaced in California.

Still another possible reason is that the Cowboys and Dan Reeves didn’t see eye to eye on things. It basically boils back down to Jones not being willing to give in and give Reeves what he thought was necessary. It kind of seems pointless for that to be the case since you bring in a revered former coach to be a consultant so you can change your current direction with his new strategies and ideas. But alas, Jerry will be Jerry.

Regardless of why it didn’t work out with Reeves, though, this team must move on. It’s a free for all to figure out what comes next, but I suspect there are still some major concerns to deal with before free agency and the draft come around.

The Cowboys have yet to name a replacement for Brian Stewart. As I blogged earlier, it’s been reported that Todd Grantham has moved into the defensive coordinators office, and that could have just been done to allow Reeves an office while he was here. What doesn’t make sense with that is going through the trouble to move Grantham to another office when Reeves could have simply taken the open office. It makes more sense that Grantham was moved into that office because they have plans for him to use it long-term.

Terrell Owens may or may not be an issue that the Cowboys are considering possible solutions for, but the media and many fans certainly are. We’re about down to the fundamental responsibility of the team officials to make an announcement on him one way or another for the sake of the millions that pay their salaries. Yeah, I know. But what else can I say about it? Either they are thinking about releasing him, or they’re not. Either way, make a statement to shut everyone up. It’s not like Jerry Jones is apposed to telling us all that someone isn’t leaving while still considering the opposite. See “Brian Stewart Won’t Be Back Next Season” on the True Blue Fan Club blog.

Several free agents have yet to be decided upon with regard to the Cowboys possible efforts to resign them, like Chris Canty, Keith Davis, Kevin Burnett, Zach Thomas, and a couple of others.

A decision still needs to be made on SS Roy Williams this off-season. His performance has been miserable despite missing most of the 2008 season with two breaks in his forearm. The Cowboys actually stand to gain a little over $2 million towards the 2009 cap by cutting him, and could possibly work out even more benefits by trading him to another team soon. It stands to reason that some teams running a 4-3 defense would be happy to have him since he’s never a distraction and has great stats while playing in a 4-3.

If Owens or Williams are released, in one way or another then comes to work of finding a suitable replacement for both, though an argument exists to find certain types of players both positions even if they both stay. The safety position has been weak since Williams’ production dropped off while Parcels was here, and we need a speed receiver to spread the field more than Owens, Roy E. Williams, and Crayton can do. Miles Austin has some great speed and other nice abilities that make him a solid option for that burst of much needed speed, but his inability to stay healthy has hampered his success.

That doesn’t even get into all the smaller things that need to be worked out like how training camp will be handled this year after direct mention of changes from Wade Phillips in his final press conference of the season.

So we’ll stay tuned for that.



The Problem With Old Greats

If there is anything I’ve learned over the years being a Cowboys fan it’s this, you don’t win championships with another team’s talent.

We’ve seen it many times in Dallas in this 12 year post-season drought, with the remarkable likely being either Terrell Owens or Zach Thomas; both current players. We have seen good come from these worn out vets, like Romo stepping in for Bledsoe and not only shocking this fan nation back to life, but doing so after learning from an intelligent and once very solid quarterback.

Even when Romo took over for him, it wasn’t because Drew had forgotten how to play like it appears Brad Johnson has, and it wasn’t because he never did anything great. He was a recycled quarterback from Parcels glory days. And he wasn’t the only one that “The Tuna” brought in.

I guess Big Bill thought quarterbacking was like coaching, even past the expiration date, cheese can still be good. I don’t think Bledsoe or Testaverde were ever comparable to even something like cottage cheese while in Dallas, but they weren’t so bad that they single handedly caused seasons to go down the drain.

I mean look at Kurt Warner, how many times has he been written off since that famed season with the Rams in which he led them to a Super Bowl victory, unlike last night as the Cardinals top guy. Yet there he was last night, and nobody was saying, “if Warner can limit his mistakes, they’ll have a shot.” In fact, the worst I heard said about him was from John Madden seconds after the 45 yard completion to Boldin, and it was simply a comment about his ability to throw it deep when he has enough time in the pocket.

Again, it’s less about not taking players well beyond any ability, but taking players that have made a career, a long career, in another city is just not working out too well across the league.

So the talk of picking up players like Ray Lewis and Julius Peppers just sounds like more of the same, and we all know how that’s been so far. I was for the Peppers trade at first, but only when I figured there was a chance he’d stick with a defensive end spot. As time goes by it becomes clearer that he wants be a DeMarcus Ware and switch to a 3-4 and the OLB spot.

The problem for the Cowboys there is simple though; Ware isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Jerry Jones is going to compromise his ability to fill other holes on the team to make sure of that. So that leaves the left side where Ellis and Spencer are currently. Spencer is up and coming still, as long as he stays healthy, and has much more upside than Peppers does at this point, and Ellis would likely contemplate suicide before quitting the team if Peppers were signed. That is a distraction that none of us need, let alone these Dallas Cowboys.

And let’s say we do sign Peppers and figure out a way to make the whole Peppers-Ellis-Spencer thing work out, you’re going to get maybe 4 or 5 years out of Peppers. The same thing goes for Ray Lewis really.

You’d get a few years out of him and there’s no telling how he’d play. A backup has never been the leader of a team with any positive outcome, not even Keith Davis. The one thing that the Lewis rumor has going for it is our need for a good inside linebacker, whether Thomas and Kevin Burnett leave or not.

But perhaps the biggest gamble when signing another teams long standing talent is their ability to adjust. Most of the top players that the media is rumoring and drooling over are on teams that have had consistent coaching, meaning one coach for most of their career and in a system that changed little, if at all.

Suddenly you want to take a guy like Lewis, who is practically a house-hold name as power LB, and throw him into a new defensive scheme. Sure, there may be some similarities and overall you’d expect a team to make some accommodations for a guy like that, but then you’re also changing what you’ve been teaching your guys, some of them too young and inexperienced to handle changes like that right away.

Look at Owens, who has been very vocal about his desires to use more of a west coach offense, his bread and butter before joining the Eagles. And even they used him in a similar way, unlike Garrett and Parcels have since he joined Dallas. He was great before coming to Dallas and that’s why he was signed, but he hasn’t adjusted to this offense well enough to be great again. By great, I mean that a 1,000 yard season shouldn’t be a surprise or even worth mentioning.

All in all, while there is something to be gained from seasoned veteran free agents, it’s just another project in the long run. Hasn’t the Cowboys’ “long run” been long enough?

Greg “The Whiner King” Ellis at it again

Well that didn’t take long. Greg Ellis has already started his campaign for biggest pain in the ass, and it’s not even February yet.

Now maybe we can’t really disagree with him too much since he is saying that he wasn’t used right on the field, but yeah, we can disagree. Ellis is old and he fades fast when he’s used as a 3 down player. He is a good pass rusher, but his coverage skills are below average for a linebacker.

He does have a point when it comes to the coaches not utilizing the players correctly in games, but he was hardly one to focus on. Yes, Wade and Stewart should have kept him out of coverage more than they did, but he wasn’t a liability in coverage, so it’s not that big of a deal.

But we all know about the lack of proper management when it came to players like Felix Jones, Terrell Owens, and others. So I say it’s a good thing that Ellis said some of what he did, but it’s about time that he accepts his position as a linebacker.

This is the fourth year in a row that he has complained about something, and it all started when he was switched from defensive end, his natural position throughout his career, to outside linebacker by Bill Parcels. Maybe he thinks if he becomes a big enough whiner that they’ll move him back to DE.

In reality, he’ll just be released or traded once the team feels they can rely on Spencer to fill his shoes full time. Something tells me that we might be seeing that situation this off-season.

Check out his comments on the DMN Cowboys Blog

Doesn’t anybody do their job anymore?

There’s something to be said for a player that owns up to his role on a team.

I mean each position has clearly stated duties and responsibilities at all times. A wide receiver has to run routes, break jams at the line, make cuts, get separation, focus on the ball and catch it, keep his timing right etc. etc.

There’s a list like that for every position on the team, some longer than others, but all well defined and fairly standard on a position by position basis.

But these days it seems too common to get players like Owens who says, “give me the ball”. Or players like Ellis who says, “I want to start”. And even a player like Romo that just wants to have fun and enjoy what he does on the field.

All contract issues aside; there are several players on every team in the National Football League that wants particular things for personal reasons. And that should be fine; Owens wants the ball? Well, he makes plays so why not? It makes sense to get the ball to your play makers, and your play makers know it too so what’s the big deal if they say something about it?

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Talking Owens, from a reader

Got a comment today from a reader, and I want to expand on what he correctly identified as another topic. The Wizard wrote:

“I’m in agreement with you about Garrett, who I truly believe is the biggest problem on the team right now. People can point at TO all they want. But, when they were 13-3 and Owens was heavily involved in the offense there were no problems. In fact, he was being called a model teammate. Now, with Sparano gone and Garrett’s reluctance to use Owens more effectively he was upset.

But, that is another topic.”

Something that always comes to mind about T.O. is what he says about getting the ball, “When I get the ball, good things happen.” He’s right, when he gets the ball, the Cowboys win the game, and that has yet to be proven otherwise.

Owens caused a lot of distractions late this year in his interview with Sanders where he called out Garrett’s scheme. He started an uproar when he had a meeting with Garrett about his perceptions of ball distribution. And he has been labeled as a trouble maker since he left San Francisco after problems, only to start a similar problem with his new team, the Eagles. We all know this stuff.

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