Terrell Owens - The Cowboy

by user ASwaff

Mark it on your calendars - March 15, 2006, a Wednesday - I said that Terrell Owens is going to be a Cowboy. I'm not saying maybe, I'm not saying probably, I'm not saying I think...he will be a Cowboy.

ESPN reported today that the Eagles have cut full-time pain in the butt Terrell Owens to avoid paying him a $5 million bonus he was due. Hours later, ESPN announced the release of another troubled wide receiver from Dallas, Keyshawn Johnson. Johnson was the Cowboys' leading receiver last year, being tops on the team in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Johnson was seeking a contract extension and a raise.

To most, including myself, the presence of Keyshawn was the only thing preventing the 'Boys from acquiring Owens. Coach Bill Parcells has a long past of dealing with trouble players (Lawrence Taylor, Brian Cox, Keyshawn Johnson, to name a few), but two egocentric wide receivers with clubhouse problems is more than any coach could handle. Now, that one buffer is gone and the Cowboys need a go-to receiver.

While Owens's physical ability is terribly attractive, are the Cowboys really so desperate that they are willing to overlook his past which is really still in the present? Especially considering just how much he is hated in Texas for his midfield star celebration as a 49er, then for his membership with conference rival Philadelphia.

I would say the Cowboys are not desperate. Aside from Drew Bledsoe and a handful of others, the Cowboys are a very young team. A veteran wide receiver would be nice, but they don't need the help of Owens. And they certainly don't need his clubhouse...how should I say it - chemistry.

Parcells may have a good history of being able to manage egos, but the ego of Owens is unmanagable. History shows that he is a player that seems bent on being a rabble-rouser. He is not merely content to win, he has to be the man that won it. And if someone doesn't recognize that he's the man, then he tears down teammates to show just how is the man. To compile matters, unlike other team leaders that want to be the man when the game is on the line, Owens does not accept the resonsibility that goes with it.

When a team wins, it's because of him. When a team loses, it's because of everyone but him.

Just look at him in San Fransisco. He ripped the coach, the owner, and called his quarterback gay. In Phildelphia, he was happy. At first. Then what happened? They lost the Super Bowl, and suddenly McNabb, who he'd claimed to be friends with, was a wuss that lost his lunch in crunch time. Suddenly, McNabb couldn't cut it. All of a sudden, the team couldn't win and it was everybody's fault but his own. Owens led the league in receptions, but he still complained he was not getting the ball enough.

He is eternally discontent.

Is that really what any team would want? A wide receiver that calls his quarterback gay if he's not getting the ball often enough? Forget about his physical ability. No team needs the kind of clubhouse division that Owens necessarily brings with himself. It's like trying to cure a cold using a needle infected with Ebola.

Yes, Owens will be a Cowboy. But don't expect us to be happy about it. And when this team gets dismantled from the inside out by the irrepresible force that is the Owens ego, Jerry Jones can't say he wasn't warned.

Date
Wed 03/15/06, 1:03 am EST