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You don’t have to like football to know who T.O. is. The flamboyant, outspoken, personable, yet controversial wide receiver turned reality show start turned example of another athlete who blew millions and has money problems…for all of his antics, issues, and distractions is a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Fame receiver. It is not open for debate at any level; his numbers don’t lie.
Still, Owens has had a “cancer in the locker room” reputation that has dogged him for most of his career. Talented teams gladly traded off the cons for the pros because Owens produced, helped his teams reach the playoffs and even one Super Bowl, of which he’d have been Most Valuable Player had his team (the Philadelphia Eagles) won.
HOW TERRELL OWENS BECAME “T.O.”
Owens strained relations with his first three NFL teams are well documented. He questioned San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia’s sexuality (Have you seen Garcia’s wife? I’m not sure where that questioning came from). He ran Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, who in my opinion is the single greatest player in the history of the NFL, out of San Francisco via contract negotiations.
Owens moved on to the Philadelphia Eagles, where his feud with otherwise low-key and high-class quarterback Donovan McNabb was well publicized. Then of course, the perfect storm for Owens happened in the NFL; T.O. joined the Dallas Cowboys. One could argue that he hastened future Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells’ path to retirement (one could also argue he helped save the next Cowboys coach, Wade Phillips, from such a fate).
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| Ever wonder if there was a knife in Owens' other hand? 2 |
RECENT HISTORY
Someone will always take a chance on talent. People mature with age. When Owens ran his course in Dallas then joined the Buffalo Bills, coming off of a last place finish in the AFC East in 2008, something unexpected happened; Owens just shut up and played football. Statistically, 2009 was his worst (full) season of his career as a starter – he still led his team (a team with less than 3,000 passing yards) in receiving, receiving yards, and yards per reception at age 36.
With the lowly Cincinnati Bengals, Owens was on pace for yet another 1,000 yard season before injuring his knee in the third-to-last game of the 2010 season. In spite of playing for a terrible team and missing two games, Owens was, yet again, in the top 20 in the NFL in receiving, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He was far removed from being the epitome of a five-time first team All-Pro but he was still one of the better receivers in the league, an asset on the field to any franchise. Casual fans may have been unaware of his accomplishments on the field because like in Buffalo, Owens’ headlines remained limited to what he did on the field.
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| Remember that Owens was a top 20 receiver in 2010 while sharing catches with former Pro Bowler Chad Ochocinco. 3 |
PARIAH
So…why the recent tribulations? How was it that nobody in the NFL would touch Owens last season, in spite of a rash of deficits of wide receivers on playoff teams (such as his first team – the 49ers)? How was it that, facing money issues, Owens was cut by the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League, paying him $250,000 per year in which he had partial ownership and produced on the field (nine touchdowns in seven games)? How did a Hall of Famer get lowered to holding his hat in his hand for a contract paying barely over the veteran minimum to play for a team with an inexperienced quarterback in Matt Flynn desperate for receiving help?
Clearly, there is some component of Owens’ personality that makes it difficult for him to play well with others. That was out for the world to see during Owens’ prime. It also made no difference because the object of football is to win and he helped his teams do just that.
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| The Seahawks are FAR from a glamour team, but are light years ahead of the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. 5 |
The problem is that Owens had everything football related working against him – age, health, missing a season. But what made him struggle so badly were his intangibles – his checkered past as a team member, offset by only two seasons of relative quiet and his lack of leadership by example over his career. Older players with less talent than even a 38 year old Owens may not have to struggle as much to look for work because a veteran presence(s) at a skill position is valuable in any NFL locker room. In short, T.O. was weighed down by his distant past (in spite of recent history) because teams were scared of the risk of T.O. “going T.O.”.
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| This image brought to you in part by GRAVITY! It's real...get used to it. 4 |
I am more impressed by recent behavior than distant behavior. Owens appears to me to me a man humbled by the consequences of his own actions and Father Time. Still, what happens on the field is what it is. I don’t think that Owens went from top 20 receiver in 2010 to simply forgetting how to play football in two years, in spite of the ACL injury. Owens best physical assets are size and strength, not agility. So I don’t think his knee problem is as big as some NFL General Managers may have made it out to be.
Owens needs to stick with his post-Cowboys gameplan. Be quiet; lead by example; play football; play well. He may get one more chance to go join a contender should Seattle not become one. If he does, his NFL swan song may reflect more favorably upon his image than his opening theme music.
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| Get your popcorn ready, Seattle! 6 |
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2) Image from www.ballerstatus.com
3) Image from http://sports.gunaxin.com
4) Image from www.browardstars.com
5) Image from www.cbssports.com
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