After hearing the players speak on T.O's behalf its obvious

[TNCowboy]

Media driven waiver? Oh hell no. Owens actions basically begged for this to happen. He put himself above the team. He put himself above the coaching staff. He blamed others for his failures. He has no one to blame but his own flapping gums.

Game, set, match.

That's the TO Era in a nutshell.

 

[Mash]

Is Romo next?

He fumbled a easy snap......he went on vacation with Jessica.....he admitted to the media that he lost his love for football.......he ended the year questioning the scheme....and to top it off....he had those stupid remarks about life in general after a game that broke Dallas fans hearts...

Or will it be Roy Williams....?

Failed to produce....then bashed the playcalling .....has been outspoken since the season ended.......all this in a half a season with his new team....go figure...

The circus is still here.....

 

[speedkilz88]

Romo's silence is deafening.

 

[texmex]

1. He's a declining football player.
2. His ego would never allow him to believe he's a declining player, which leads to the last issue.
3. He thinks the offense's primary focus should be centered on getting him the ball.

When you have #1, #2, and #3, it makes it very difficult for an offense to establish an idenitity and formulate gameplans where plays feed off one another.

The offense's problems are not solved now by cutting TO. But I believe there is greater hope for the offense to establish and identity and realize its potential now that he's gone. Whether they can do that, remains to be seen as this is where Garrett, Romo, Roy, etc need to earn those dollars.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

It had nothing to do with the media. It had everything to do with his undermining and campaigning against his own coaches, teammates, and quarterback.

Good riddance.

 

[Royal Laegotti]

It's just so hard for some to break away from T.O.! Some fans treat him like he's some revolutionary figure, he's his own worst enemy folks! Move on!

 

[jobberone]

I can see a lot of sides to the TO equation. To think he got cut for being a distraction only is naive. To think he had no role in his own demise here is just as naive. And I don't see how any reasonable person can deny the media played the TO tune over and over because it just works so well.

There is no simple answer and there is a lot of culpability and piling one and errorneous conceptions for all. TO only emulates the duality of man just like the rest of us hovering somewhere between good and evil.

I will say if he'd just shut his big mouth it would have been greatly diminished and likely he'd still be here.

 

[BrassCowboy]

Its a bit of both.....IMHO the media did have a agenda to see Dallas with Owens fail.

Owens past and some of his outburst sure did fuel it.....but we also witnessed fabricated stories like ESPN reporting that Owens did try to kill himself and then they blew up the hammy incident in training camp when there were WR's just as talented and important to their teams suffering from the same injury and nothing was overblown about that.

The bottom line is this team failed to win....failed to overcome the media distractions and to some failed to live up to their supposed talent level.

Owens was the scapegoat.......Wade will probally be next....and if this disappointment continues......Romo will get his share of the blame.

I dont know....we have heard....people say that if we are going to be 9-7 its better not having TO....but with that same logic...we can go down the pecking order and start that every year with our supposed overpaid superstars.

If we fail again.....does this make Romo more accountable? Bubble Boy needs to be a leader now.....have we seen anything from him to think he will? We traded for a Roy midseason and it didnt take him to long to complain....will he be our next whipping boy?

Probally not....only because Wade will probally be fired next year...and it will give players we expect to be leaders another excuse.......JMHO.

I guess releasing TO needed to be done....and IMHO it will expose the real problems Dallas has.....because we all know ....there are bigger issues on why this team has failed to win anything then just the distraction of having TO.

the problem with your assumption about Wade being scapegoat next year and the propability that he will be fired is that Wade should be on the same unemployment line this year!

I am gunning for Wade to be fired next year, and yes if we do not make it I blame it on him now due to what I have witnessed from Wade so far.

So let me put it down on paper, Wade should be fired now, but it appears we will have to wait a year and it is what I EXPECT to happen........

I wanna say the same thing about Garrett, and I have up to now, but I will reserve judgement until the end of this next season and see how he handles this offense now that is he is not restrained to calling an offense to build up TO.

And by the way, about TO being the scapegoat.... real leaders on this team will emerge now than the 'Me Me Me' of the team is gone.

Romo can now do what he started doing, and that is throwing to whoever is open rather than forcing throws to a player that obviously has problems breaking free at the line and getting open downfield.
Garrett will no longer have to design plays to please TO.

 

[Hostile]

It's just so hard for some to break away from T.O.! Some fans treat him like he's some revolutionary figure, he's his own worst enemy folks! Move on!

Great post.

 

[tyke1doe]

Very well said, I mean how messed up things would be if all the players who wanted him gone came out in a press conference ands said so.

Besides, now that he is gone, it is only good press to come out and praise the guy for what he has done.

it is good PR

or PC...

What would be the benefit of slamming him now? He's gone.

It's like when someone dies who was a real S.O.B.

Why criticize him at his funeral. He's dead. All the bad or negative associated with him died with him.

Move on.

 

[tyke1doe]

There's a saying in football locker rooms that other guys in here who played have probably heard. Never walk on a man's grave. You want to get disrespected in a big time hurry, celebrate another player's misfortune. Guys just will not do it. Did you ever even hear Hugh Douglas after TO got cut from the Eagles? They supposedly had a fist fight. Yet silence from Douglas.

Are there Cowboys players who are glad he is gone? Of course they are. No one is so great that everyone loves him. Some are quietly elated he is gone.

The idea that this is a media creation waiver is ludicrous. This is TO created. Once again he is gone because he cannot put the team above himself. Let's discuss some facts shall we?

Last guy to take the field for practice, every time. The reason, he wants to make his grand entrance. It's as if he is saying, "we can get down to business because I'm here now." All it says to me is he isn't the right kind of leader. Michael Irvin was a prima donna WR too. Michael Irvin worked hard in practices too. Michael called out guys too. Did Michael ever throw teammates and coaches under the bus? Did he ever act jealous that Emmitt was the focal point of the Offense? Did he make it a habit to be the last guy to show up for practice?

Leadership is not personality. TO is a great guy. I mean that in every way. He has a good heart and he is very personable and guys genuinely like him. The problem is he demands that you like him. He demands that the Offense focus on him. He demands time and attention. He beats his own chest to tell you how good he is instead of letting others be his publicity.

How do you think it feels to teammates who get some game focus in a loss who have to hear that the reason the team lost is that instead of focusing on getting the ball to TO, the team trid to get you the ball? Do you think teammates stand there and appreciate that they just got blamed for the loss?

Screw the team trying to take advantage of mismatches that Jason Witten creats with LBs who have to cover him and can't? That's the message that is good for the team?

"They unleashed me." I wish he had never said that. I really do. The interpretation of that was, "we won because I got the ball." Forget the blocking that the OL did to protect the QB. Forget the fact that the QB has to throw the ball for him to even do anything with it. Forge the fact the Defense still has to stop the other team too. He patted himself on the back and it didn't push the team forward. Guess what? It never does.

Owens was cut for one reason, and one reason only. The Dallas Cowboys want to avoid a repeat of 2008, the year of Owens. They looked at the Offensive roster in place without him and said, "we are going to give these young kids an opportunity that they would not have if Owens was still here."

It's really just that simple. Owens is gone so that Garrett and the rest of the Offensive staff can come up with ways to take advantage of the skills of guys like Williams, Austin, Felix, Bennett, and Choice. Owens is gone so that Tony Romo has to develop chemistry with Bennett, Williams, Austin, and maybe even Stanback. Owens is gone so that the team can focus on what they need to do as a team rather than what they need to do to placate Owens.

Media driven waiver? Oh hell no. Owens actions basically begged for this to happen. He put himself above the team. He put himself above the coaching staff. He blamed others for his failures. He has no one to blame but his own flapping gums.

The remaining Cowboys are not going to walk on his grave. But if you for one minute think that some of them did not privately let out a sigh of relief or do a fist pump, well, then you need a wake up call from the real world. No one has ever been as good as TO's opinion of himself. That's a shame really. Had he simply let the praise coem from other sources the man would receive the accolades he actually does deserve.

Take a lesson from the whale TO. The only time he gets harpooned is when he comes up to spout.

Great line. May I borrow it?

 

[smoovb]

Why he was cut. He wasnt cut because he was a bad teammate nor was he cut because of his production, he was cut because no matter how good Owens could behave he would still be ripped by the media. He cant win.

Hypotheically, Owens could catch 15 tds next year if he were still a Dallas Cowboy. Espn, then, would play it off as if he doesnt give up some of his touchdowns that Dallas will go nowhere in the playoiffs. From this, they would go to Roy Williams and get on his case that Owens has 15 tds but he has 4. Jason Witten and Crayton would be hammered with the same kind of questions and the most important aspect of them all is this; all of that stuff I just mentioned would be thrown in Tony Romo's head and it will just eat away at him like it did this year. He would come into some games forcing the ball to whoevers in the headlines that week. In this case Owens has done nothing but play to his ability but the media is out to get him.

Personally, I would love to have Owens back on this team but his past still haunts him. The media has turned into TMZ. For example, when he yelled at Gurode in the Arizona game I felt it was warrented. The media said he was just being TeeO. Another example was when Pacman got suspended. Some media and I even beileve some play by play guys said that he was our best corner before he was suspended but when he came back in the Pitt game all of a sudden his play was a bust. Do I hear bandwagon jumpers in the media. In Owens first year he wasnt even giving a fair shake by the media as it was assumed that Bill Parcells and he would not get along. Like it or not they co-existed and whether he was on this team or not Parcells would still of left after 06. I think personally Bill ok the signing because it was his last chance at a Superbowl. I know the pills thing didnt help but that had nothing to do with Bill Parcells not getting along with him because I think he did and he even said that on NFL countdown. Media, media, media...........

I hope you see the point Im making. Owens was released because its percieved by the media every time he catches 2 balls for 19 yards they hammered the story down everyones thraot. The media got so bad it got to the face of the franchise, Romo, and when that happens you have to get rid of those variables. The only time when Owens complianed was when the offense was sputtering and he stepped up and said put that problem on my back. Everytime he gets the ball the teams does good. He had a point there. If this was Sam Hurd saying this he would be looked upon as a leader trying to step up for the team. Owens, it was looked upon as him whining again.

In closing, Owens is gone because of the media. To the people who wanted him back you can blame them. I know he did stuff in Sf and Philly to garner his release or trade but in Dallas I really think it wasn't him this time. I havent heard one teammate say anything but good things and its just sorry in todays game the media can actually gang up on somebody so bad that a team has to release him. opinions

The media forced the Cowboys to cut T.O. and eat millions of dollars in dead money? That makes zero sense. Last I knew, T.O played for the Dallas Cowboys, not ESPN. Let me break it down for you.

The two opinions within the Cowboys organization were:

-Some coaches and players liked T.O.
-Some coaches and players did not like T.O.

Now I don't know how many people liked him than disliked him or vice versa. But I do know that he pissed off the people who matter most in the organization. And I'm not sure who those people are. But that's all it took.

As far as an athlete, the guy is great. I have no arguments there. Overall, his stats are sensational. But his sensational stats nor his attitude assured him a roster spot on the team.

The media gives high-profile figures copious amounts of air time. Does their coverage ultimately force owners to act of their (media's) opinions? No.

 

[Hostile]

Great line. May I borrow it?

Yes sir.

 

[MONT17]

Say what you want but half of you don't know jack about playing football, T.O. wasn't the problem in Dallas. Romo didn't command the huddle enough so T.O. had to do it himself.

True... but Romo fans will contend he coudnt control the huddle with TO there. the chicken or the egg? Now the blame will fall on Garretts shoulders and then maybe Romos in 2011!

Moss and Owens were considered the same player a few years ago... Comparisons of Romo to Brady, laughable for anyone who has ever stood in an offensive huddle with a strong personality at QB... no one will compare the 2 ever again!

 

[Doomsday]

It is always everyone's fault except for TO.

It wasnt TO's fault when we lost, it was Garrett's and Romo's for not throwing him the ball enough. Even when he was targeted 15 times in a loss it was Romo's fault he dropped the ball or quit on his route(See Pitt Game). He made that perfectly clear in EVERY single press conference he did. The Deion interview was the last straw in my mind, he threw everyone under the bus and talked about how this team couldnt do anything unless he made plays.

It not TO's fault he cant keep his mouth shut. Its not his fault the media asks him provocative questions that let him RUN his mouth to the detriment of himself AND the TEAM. No its never his fault.

Give the TO is a victim crap a rest, anyone who constantly goes on National TV and blasts his teammates and coaches is a cancer. What other high profile players do that kind of crap? Im sure a lot of them want to but EVERYONE is smart enough to realize it is counterproductive to the TEAM but TO. He has no one to blame but himself for getting cut.

 

[CATCH17]

Say what you want but half of you don't know jack about playing football, T.O. wasn't the problem in Dallas. Romo didn't command the huddle enough so T.O. had to do it himself.

I agree.

Like Ellis said. There isn't 1 guy who can corrupt or toxicate a locker room.

All that was total 100% GRADE A BS.

Especially a guy who sells out to football and wants to win more than anyone.

 

[TNCowboy]

There is no simple answer and there is a lot of culpability and piling one and errorneous conceptions for all. TO only emulates the duality of man just like the rest of us hovering somewhere between good and evil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4fWN6VvgKQ

 

[theogt]

We haven't heard from all of the players on their feelings about Owens getting cut. Just because the half a dozen or so guys who have given interviews haven't spoken ill of him, doesn't mean there aren't others who are very pleased to see him gone.

... it is a good sign that the players know better than to call a press conference to yell "good riddance," even if that is precisely how they feel.

:laugh2:

Exactly. There's gotta be someone that doesn't like him. I mean, we don't know anyone on the team that doesn't, but surely there's someone! Anyone!

 

[newlander]

The enabling of Me-O...it would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic. I'm so glad he's gone so this team and organization can move on. He'll be a distant memory soon enough so by all means enablers get it all out of your system now..............

 

[khiladi]

Because Garrett needs a fall-out boy for his crappy play-calling.