American Football: T.O not happy with Drew

Like it or not, Terrell Owens will still be catching passes from Drew Bledsoe this week.

Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells stood by his quarterback Monday, instead blaming the offensive line for most of Bledsoe's mistakes in a 38-24 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I'm not switching the quarterback," Parcells said. "I don't think that's the answer right this minute. ... Let's try to get some of the things corrected (on the line) and we'll go from there."

Bledsoe threw three interceptions Sunday, the last on a pass to the end zone that could've tied the game in the final minute, but wound up going 102 yards the other way.

He also set up an early field goal for the Eagles with a fumble. That turnover came on the first of his seven sacks.

"He was under pretty good duress," Parcells said. "The majority of the easy sacks they had were mental mistakes."

Owens was none too pleased with the way things went in what he expected to be a breakout game against the team and town that dumped him last season.

After months of anticipation, Owens had to wait until the third quarter for his first catch. He finished with three receptions for 45 yards. More notable were his antics on the sideline, although his jawing at teammates and coaches supposedly involved shouts of encouragement.

"He was just trying to get us going," said right guard Marco Rivera, among those Owens was seen yelling at. "He basically said, `We're going to win this game.' ... I just feel that he really wanted to show the world what T.O. was all about and he didn't get that chance."

Parcells' explanation for Owens' lack of activity? Double coverage.

"They were taking him out of the game and so we didn't get him involved as much as we would have liked to," Parcells said. "They put two guys over there. It's hard to force the ball over there."

Parcells said Philadelphia had two defenders committed to Owens a "pretty good percentage" of the game, more than other teams Dallas (2-2) has faced.

He added that Owens is still adjusting to the offense, which is why his timing with Bledsoe may still be off.

"I think there's some things he is trying to still gain an understanding of here," Parcells said.

After the game, Owens ran into the locker room yelling and asking why the Cowboys bothered signing him in the offseason, according to a stadium employee who witnessed the tirade but didn't want to be identified because he is not authorized to talk about team matters. He later told reporters, "I'm just out there doing my job. I'm not trying to point any fingers at anybody."

Neither Owens nor Bledsoe spoke to the media Monday. Both are expected to talk Wednesday.

Bledsoe is in his second season with the Cowboys and sixth with Parcells. So the coach certainly knows all about how prone the quarterback is to sacks and interceptions.

But Parcells let Bledsoe off the hook this time because there was plenty of blame to go around. He said missed blocks led to three or four of the sacks and receivers being "completely covered" factored into two or three others.

The missed blocks angered Parcells the most because they came on blitzes Dallas had seen from Philadelphia before -- thus, players should've known what to expect. He never implicated anyone, but most problems seemed to come from the left side of the line, particularly tackle Flozell Adams.

Parcells also refused to consider crowd noise as a factor "because there's not much communication involved."

"This is recognition," he said. "You got to see this."

As for the interceptions, Parcells noted Bledsoe's arm was hit on the first one. The other two were operator error: an underthrown pass when Owens had the defense beaten for a likely touchdown, and a throw straight to Philadelphia's Lito Sheppard when the defense prevented tight end Jason Witten from getting to where Bledsoe expected.

"Hopefully in that situation, we throw it out of the end zone and have two more shots at it," Parcells said. "For some reason, we didn't."

There aren't enough of those reasons for Parcells to consider turning to unproven backup Tony Romo.

"Not right at this moment, no," Parcells said.

How long will he stick with Bledsoe?

"As long as I feel like going, OK?" he said.

Parcells wasn't at all defensive about rookie safety Pat Watkins, who was burned on a 60-yard pass to L.J. Smith, failed to tackle Hank Baskett on an 87-yard touchdown pass, and was caught out of position on a 40-yard flea-flicker touchdown for Reggie Brown.

Parcells said he expects rookies to make mistakes, but with Watkins "it was more than I expected."

Parcells didn't say whether Watkins will start Sunday against Houston. The position could get interesting as veteran Marcus Coleman is eligible to return this week from a suspension

Is there one person at this website who cares what T.O. is happy with?

I don't care. He is a whining, sulking, narcissistic baby.

On "The Herd" on ESPN Radio today, Colin Cowherd said that he was reading a newspaper article that described different characteristics of different age groups. He read this one: "sad, withdrawn, often has illnesses with no medical explanation, refuses to attend public meetings." Cowherd asked who that sounded like. Right away I thought of T.O., and that was who he was referring to. Cowherd went on to say that the article had given those as the characteristics of a preschooler.

More complaining from none other T.O.

Terrell Owens screamed it on the sideline against Philadelphia, in the locker room after a loss and repeated it again Wednesday: "Why am I here?"

The volatile receiver admits he's frustrated with his role on the Dallas Cowboys, but not simply because he's off to his worst start in years. According to T.O., he'd be fine if Dallas was winning and he had mediocre statistics.

It's the Cowboys' being 2-2 combined with the reduced numbers that he can't tolerate.

"I do have a problem when I don't feel like I'm involved enough," he said. "I know I can make a difference. That's not me being arrogant. I just know what I bring to the table. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. ... I want to win. I came here to help this team win."

Owens spoke the entire 45 minutes the locker room was open to reporters, passionately describing his feelings on many subjects. He even revealed that the ongoing issues he's faced the last few months, from a hamstring injury in training camp to an accidental overdose, have driven him to "sit in my house in the dark" instead of having much of a social life.

He never directly criticized quarterback Drew Bledsoe or coach Bill Parcells, the playbook or the play calling.

In fact, T.O. had few specific complaints -- just the general one about not getting the ball enough.

"I haven't really gotten started yet," he said.

Owens has 17 catches for 232 yards and one touchdown. It's his fewest catches after four games since 1999 and his fewest yards at this point since 2002. His three-game streak without reaching the end zone is his longest drought since 2000.

In a loss Sunday against the Eagles, his former team, Owens caught only three passes for 45 yards. However, there were 13 passes thrown his way -- five more than to any other Dallas receiver, Parcells noted Wednesday. Owens dropped one and two were intercepted, including one that likely would've been a touchdown.

"The opportunities are there," he said. "We're just not connecting."

Owens knew when he signed with Dallas in March he was joining an offense that wasn't designed to showcase a specific receiver. However, he acknowledged for the first time Wednesday he expected that to change for him -- like it did in Philadelphia.

"Dude, I am playmaker," he said. "These guys know that. It's simple. ... Get the ball in the playmaker's hands."

Owens was mostly supportive of Bledsoe, especially compared to how he's talked about his previous quarterbacks. He even added he is working on his route-running "to give the quarterback better looks, things of that nature."


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"I think we all need to play better," Owens said. "That was one of the things he came up to me and said. Even after the game, he sent me a text that said, `Stay with me,' he'll play better for me. You can only respect that. He's trying his best to get the ball to me in certain situations. It's hard when he has a lot of pressure on him."

Bledsoe reiterated Wednesday that T.O. is a quality receiver who wants the ball and the quarterback is happy to try getting it to him.

"I've never had a receiver, at least not one who is worth anything, that was happy with the number of times they touch the ball," Bledsoe said. "I told him when he got here, `Listen, I don't expect you to be happy all the time. If you don't get to touch the ball enough, I don't expect you to like that. At the same time, you have to keep playing hard for me and give me good information when you come back.' And he's been very good about that."

Owens thinks he's been good about it, too, adding he's not trying "to come in and stir things up ... to create more controversy and distraction around here."

"I wouldn't say I'm unhappy," said Owens, who is making $10 million this season as part of a $25 million, three-year deal. "I'm not happy about the losing. I just feel like there's really an opportunity for something really special to happen here in Dallas with the team that we have. Once we get the nucleus of guys in the right positions to play and play as a unit, then we're going to be OK."

But is T.O. going to be OK?

"I don't go nowhere," he said. "I don't do nothing. It's frustrating. It's frustrating just to go (through) what I have been going through since training camp. I've had the hamstring. Then I break my hand. Then I go to the hospital. Then personal stuff.

"My way of venting is going out there on Sunday, trying to win ballgames. Now it's added frustration, especially when I know we have a good team. And the team we lost to, they know they should have lost. We made too many mistakes to win. We are stopping ourselves."

Owens watched the game film of the Eagles game with teammates Monday ("It was sickening," he said), then saw a replay of the Fox broadcast Tuesday night on the NFL Network.

He was still peeved Wednesday about some of the things discussed about him, especially the repeated shots of him barking at his teammates.

"The guys in the booth are saying, `There he goes again, he's up to his old stuff again,"' he said. "It's very unfair. ... It makes me hesitant to try to do what I need to do."

Besides, if he wanted to really do something shocking and get across his message, he could always borrow from the repertoire of his Dallas predecessor, Keyshawn Johnson.

"I need to get a shirt -- `Give me the damn ball!"' Owens said, smiling wide and laughing. "I am just kidding. I am just kidding."

TO's not happy with anyone, anytime. He reportedly got into an arguement with the WR coach earlier. His time in Dallas is going to be even shorter than his time in Philly.

I agree with you, Gibbsy.

He's playing for the wrong head coach this time... one who will not tolerate his prima donna, solipsistic, megalomaniacal bullsh*t. One or two more of these disgraces and he will be O U T.

I'd love to hear what Parcells has said to him since his whining and insubordinate remarks about the receivers coach hit the media. Anyone who knows the first thing about Parcells knows he's said something to T.O., and it hasn't been, "It's ok, Terrell. I realize you're a high-strung, extremely competitive, enormously talented player."

A team needs him like it needs the bubonic plague.

BHN

When has T. O. ever been happy with a quarterback after Steve Young??? It's almost every single season that you hear him spewing from his mouth that a certain team's quarterback sucks or the offensive coordinator won't throw the ball to him. T. O. needs to do the smart thing and that is to SHUT UP!!!

I think he may be in line for Mike & Mike In the Morning's 'Just Shut Up Award' if you ask me. lol

Parsell's should weed this cancer out before it ruins the whole season. Screw TO.

Every veteran of this website knows I feel the following three things about Barry Bonds:

(1) Before he started cheating in 1999 or immediately before the 2000 season, he was already one of the 15 or 20 greatest players of all time--unlike the overwhelming majority of cheaters, whose "greatness" was achieved only because they cheated. For this reason, Bonds deserves to be elected to the Hall of Fame, by a huge margin, in his first year of eligibility;

(2) What he's done since then is transparently phony and doesn't mean sh*t; and

(3) He has always been a world-class @$$hole, on a parallel with such early-day baseball pukes as Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb, and only a step or two below the man who set the standard for @$$holishness in baseball: Rogers Hornsby.

BUT--and this is something I would have said a year ago--I have felt for some time that as despicable as Bonds is, he's a downright likeable dude compared to Terrell Owens. Bonds has caused me to change the channel innumerable times; Owens has caused me to want to throw the remote through the TV numerous times, and why the media insist on giving him all that airplay--when EVERYONE hates him--is beyond me.

More to the point, NOBODY has ever wanted to trade Bonds. Anyone who's ever read the stuff about what an aloof egomaniac Bonds is knows he incurs all kinds of resentment from teammates, but he has never sown such massive resentment and disharmony that the Pirates or Giants wanted to get rid of him. In fact, the Pirates hated losing him, despite his famous, expletive-laden tongue-lashing from then-manager Jim Leyland. So call him the modern-day Ty Cobb, who, for all of his despicability, nobody ever wanted to trade, either.

But Terrell Owens? He's the modern Rogers Hornsby. For all his talent, he causes such tremendous trouble--wherever he goes--that he tears teams apart and they quickly realize they have to get rid of him. Hornsby would bat .380+ with 30 HR's, get traded, and his team would improve the next year. He put up such spectacular numbers in the 1920's that he would have been the greatest hitter of the decade, had it been any other decade (think: Babe Ruth, whose stats in the 1920's no mortal was going to approach), but he was traded three times in as many years (after 1926, 1927 and 1928), and all three of his former teams improved in W-L the next year, despite losing his spectacular stats.

The 1932 Cubs were just above .500 when they fired him as player-manager late in the season. They replaced him with Charlie Grimm, a hitless but defensively good first baseman, and went on to win the pennant with a terrific late surge, and face the Yankees in the 1932 World Series, leading to Ruth's famous HR over the 488 FT. marker in dead center field and the legend of the called shot HR.

Is not Terrell Owens like Hornsby? Have not the Eagles flourished in his absence? And is there anyone who thinks the Cowboys would not be a better team right now if Parcells performed radical thoracic surgery and excised this malignancy from the guts of his team? Is it really worth having this whining, publicly pouting, disrespectful, insubordinate punk on the field, trashing the receivers coach and the QB, just to make life on fellow WR Glenn easier?

Does anybody believe that?

BHN

Owens is without a doubt not the guy you would want on your team if you want a selfless, classy leader. He whines, b*#@!es, and causes differences on the team. But, he is also without a doubt a phenominal athlete and one of if not THE best reciever in the league. In a recent players pole in Sports Illustrated his peers voted him just that, the best reciever in the league.


I am not justifying his actions. (namely the way he behaved in Philly) But I was watching last week when Dallas played Philly and watched him sulk and confront his recievers coach. That is the point that his critics say ' look at TO, being a baby and a cancer to the team again'. Part of me agrees with that, and the other part of me wants to give TO some mercy.


While he should probably go about things differently, the way he was a non-factor against Philly is ridiculous. He is a total jerk but I would have to say he needs to get the rock. I understand a defense keying on a guy but thats when you find whatever way you can to get your best reciever and best athlete involved in the game.

Did he not have more balls thrown his way than any other Dallas receiver, including running backs? And was this not despite the fact he was double-covered?

By the way, GREAT to see you back here, old pal. This place just isn't the same without you here. When you and Toejam left, it was like the air went out of here.

So is everyone else dreading the next week, with all the news coverage of His Highness for catching 3 TD's? Or will he be whining for only getting 5 passes and so few yards?

I'd say he'll be whining an crying about only having five passes thrown to him. But, they are playing the Giants on ESPN's M.N.F.