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A Tough Lesson T.O. Learn
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| Terrell Owens has gone from the 49ers to the Eagles to the Cowboys and now the Bills. Everywhere he’s been, T.O. has been a constant headache for coaches and teammates, so the Bills are fooling themselves if they think they’re getting a model citizen. (James P. McCoy/Associated Press) |
What Will It Take For Teams To Realize That Terrell Owens Is, In Every Sense, A Loser?
By Drew Silverman, The Bulletin
Fool me once, shame on you, Terrell Owens. Fool me twice, shame on you, Jeffrey Lurie. Fool me three times, shame on you, Jerry Jones. Fool me four times, shame on you, National Football League.
The Bills became the fourth team to get sucked into the T.O. nightmare on Saturday, when they signed the talented yet egomaniacal wide receiver to a one-year, $6.5 million deal.
The move assured that their team will put up big numbers in three different categories in 2009: points, tickets and headaches. The offense will be exciting, the sellouts will be numerous and the distractions will be plentiful.
And in the end, it simply won’t be worth it.
Just ask the 49ers, with whom Owens butted heads with the coaches and the quarterback. Or the Eagles, with whom Owens butted heads with the coaches and the quarterback. Or the Cowboys, with whom … well, you get it.
Owens’ track record couldn’t be any clearer. For a player who is generally viewed as unpredictable, the truth is that the Bills pretty much know exactly what they’re getting in Owens. He’s going to score touchdowns — 109 in 127 games this decade. He’s going to drop passes — an NFL-high 60 the last three years. And he’s going to make headlines — lots of them.
And make no mistake about it, the latter is the No. 1 reason why Owens had little choice but to sign a measly one-year deal with the Bills.
Drew Rosenhaus can author all the agent-speak that he wants, but it’s obvious that no Super Bowl contenders were interested in T.O. and no team in the entire league was willing to give him a multi-year contract.
After more than a decade of his tired act, Owens has officially become a loser. His teams always come up short in the playoffs, his relationships with teammates and coaches constantly crumble to the ground and, with each stop he makes, his legacy goes deeper and deeper into the toilet.
Thus, it makes sense that only a losing franchise like Buffalo would gamble on such a player. The Bills were known in the 90’s for losing four straight Super Bowls. Their last playoff appearance was one of biggest last-second chokes in NFL history (remember the Music City Miracle?) and they are coming off, not surprisingly, their fourth straight losing season.
This is a team, quite literally, with nothing more to lose.
That’s why the Bills were willing to take a chance on Owens, whose teams own a 1-5 record in his last six playoff games. (The only win in that stretch was the 49ers’ miracle 39-38 victory over the Giants in 2003, a game in which the refs robbed New York of a game-winning field goal attempt on the final play.)
In fairness, Owens was the hero in the 49ers’ playoff win over the Packers in 1999, but many point to that last-second touchdown catch as the moment when Terrell Owens became T.O.
The rest, as they say, is history. Owens took shots at Jeff Garcia’s sexuality, Donovan McNabb’s nausea and Tony Romo’s favoritism. Ultimately, the 49ers couldn’t take him anymore, the Eagles couldn’t get rid of him fast enough and then, even with a new stadium arriving and millions of dollars invested in him, the Cowboys’ scrapped the T.O. experiment after three disappointing seasons.
The day Owens was waived by Dallas, it was evident that another team would give him a chance. However, it’s still not exactly clear why.
At this point, any owner that would sign Owens — in this case, the Bills’ Ralph Wilson — clearly cares more about tickets and headlines than winning and chemistry. He’s willing to put one player above the team, despite a multitude of reasons why the move is destined to backfire.
Can T.O. possibly coexist with Trent Edwards, a young quarterback who has never been consistent (or healthy) in college or the pros? Can Dick Jauron possibly contain Owens when Steve Mariucci, Andy Reid and Bill Parcells couldn’t? Can T.O. possibly be happy in Buffalo, where the nightlife is about as exciting as a fourth-and-10 punt?
These are all questions that will have to be answered over the next year, along with the most important point: How will the Bills deal with having Owens in the locker room?
Truth be told, it isn’t easy to have him around. It isn’t fun to answer six different questions about why T.O. is upset about his role in the offense. It isn’t pleasant to get asked by 10 different reporters about T.O.’s latest temper tantrum. And as much as those touchdown celebrations are pure joy to fans around the country, no player wants to talk about why Owens danced around in the end zone with his team down 31-7.
It’s exhausting, simply exhausting, just being around Owens. And that goes for coaches, players, reporters and fans. Sure, he scores touchdowns and puts people in the seats, but it’s fool’s gold. Owens has proven time and time again that he does everything except play for winning football teams.
You would think that by this point, all NFL teams would have gotten the memo. But perhaps the Bills wanted to find out for themselves.
And say whatever you want about how T.O. will spark Buffalo’s offense, generate headlines and boost ticket sales, but the Bills — just like the 49ers, Eagles and Cowboys before them — will learn, in time, that it just isn’t worth it.
Despite his 951 catches and 139 touchdowns — numbers that are sure to land him in Canton one day — Owens, when it comes down to it, is nothing but a clown.
And every team he plays for becomes nothing but a circus.
Only, you know, without the rings.
Drew Silverman can be reached at dsilverman@thebulletin.us
The Bills became the fourth team to get sucked into the T.O. nightmare on Saturday, when they signed the talented yet egomaniacal wide receiver to a one-year, $6.5 million deal.
The move assured that their team will put up big numbers in three different categories in 2009: points, tickets and headaches. The offense will be exciting, the sellouts will be numerous and the distractions will be plentiful.
And in the end, it simply won’t be worth it.
Just ask the 49ers, with whom Owens butted heads with the coaches and the quarterback. Or the Eagles, with whom Owens butted heads with the coaches and the quarterback. Or the Cowboys, with whom … well, you get it.
Owens’ track record couldn’t be any clearer. For a player who is generally viewed as unpredictable, the truth is that the Bills pretty much know exactly what they’re getting in Owens. He’s going to score touchdowns — 109 in 127 games this decade. He’s going to drop passes — an NFL-high 60 the last three years. And he’s going to make headlines — lots of them.
And make no mistake about it, the latter is the No. 1 reason why Owens had little choice but to sign a measly one-year deal with the Bills.
Drew Rosenhaus can author all the agent-speak that he wants, but it’s obvious that no Super Bowl contenders were interested in T.O. and no team in the entire league was willing to give him a multi-year contract.
After more than a decade of his tired act, Owens has officially become a loser. His teams always come up short in the playoffs, his relationships with teammates and coaches constantly crumble to the ground and, with each stop he makes, his legacy goes deeper and deeper into the toilet.
Thus, it makes sense that only a losing franchise like Buffalo would gamble on such a player. The Bills were known in the 90’s for losing four straight Super Bowls. Their last playoff appearance was one of biggest last-second chokes in NFL history (remember the Music City Miracle?) and they are coming off, not surprisingly, their fourth straight losing season.
This is a team, quite literally, with nothing more to lose.
That’s why the Bills were willing to take a chance on Owens, whose teams own a 1-5 record in his last six playoff games. (The only win in that stretch was the 49ers’ miracle 39-38 victory over the Giants in 2003, a game in which the refs robbed New York of a game-winning field goal attempt on the final play.)
In fairness, Owens was the hero in the 49ers’ playoff win over the Packers in 1999, but many point to that last-second touchdown catch as the moment when Terrell Owens became T.O.
The rest, as they say, is history. Owens took shots at Jeff Garcia’s sexuality, Donovan McNabb’s nausea and Tony Romo’s favoritism. Ultimately, the 49ers couldn’t take him anymore, the Eagles couldn’t get rid of him fast enough and then, even with a new stadium arriving and millions of dollars invested in him, the Cowboys’ scrapped the T.O. experiment after three disappointing seasons.
The day Owens was waived by Dallas, it was evident that another team would give him a chance. However, it’s still not exactly clear why.
At this point, any owner that would sign Owens — in this case, the Bills’ Ralph Wilson — clearly cares more about tickets and headlines than winning and chemistry. He’s willing to put one player above the team, despite a multitude of reasons why the move is destined to backfire.
Can T.O. possibly coexist with Trent Edwards, a young quarterback who has never been consistent (or healthy) in college or the pros? Can Dick Jauron possibly contain Owens when Steve Mariucci, Andy Reid and Bill Parcells couldn’t? Can T.O. possibly be happy in Buffalo, where the nightlife is about as exciting as a fourth-and-10 punt?
These are all questions that will have to be answered over the next year, along with the most important point: How will the Bills deal with having Owens in the locker room?
Truth be told, it isn’t easy to have him around. It isn’t fun to answer six different questions about why T.O. is upset about his role in the offense. It isn’t pleasant to get asked by 10 different reporters about T.O.’s latest temper tantrum. And as much as those touchdown celebrations are pure joy to fans around the country, no player wants to talk about why Owens danced around in the end zone with his team down 31-7.
It’s exhausting, simply exhausting, just being around Owens. And that goes for coaches, players, reporters and fans. Sure, he scores touchdowns and puts people in the seats, but it’s fool’s gold. Owens has proven time and time again that he does everything except play for winning football teams.
You would think that by this point, all NFL teams would have gotten the memo. But perhaps the Bills wanted to find out for themselves.
And say whatever you want about how T.O. will spark Buffalo’s offense, generate headlines and boost ticket sales, but the Bills — just like the 49ers, Eagles and Cowboys before them — will learn, in time, that it just isn’t worth it.
Despite his 951 catches and 139 touchdowns — numbers that are sure to land him in Canton one day — Owens, when it comes down to it, is nothing but a clown.
And every team he plays for becomes nothing but a circus.
Only, you know, without the rings.
Drew Silverman can be reached at dsilverman@thebulletin.us
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