Bryant and Owens

[ftghb]

TO was a freak, he was much faster than dez, you didn't really worry about overthrowing him. For a bigger guy, he ran really precise routes too, knew where the soft spots in the zone were, so he wasn't hollering about targets for nothing. He was literally open on almost every play.

Dez has better hands, and much greater leaping ability. He attacks the ball at the point of the catch much better than TO did, but nowhere near the fluidity/versatility in running routes, and can't really burn DBs with sheer speed either. The most appropriate comparison to dez would be michael irvin. Moss and TO were the two most diva receivers I've watched, but undoubtedly, the two most physically gifted receivers ever.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Parcells only coached Owens one season. Why wasn't Dallas able to make it work with Owens after Parcells left? Perhaps it is because of Owens.

Oh it was Owens fault too., no doubt.

But Parcells acted like a complete baby about the whole thing, and ostracized him by calling him "the player", and not talking to him, etc.

Instead of taking on a father figure to him, which would have been exactly what Owens needed, .. he made him feel like an outcast, and never welcomed him. That would have worked wonders with a kid with Owens background.

 

[TrailBlazer]

IMO strength should go to Dez. Too many times, I've seen 3-4 players having to gang tackle him. Not to mention, Dez has a mean stiff arm and can make anyone trying to tackle him look foolish.

Watch the video of T.O. doing sit ups in his driveway and then tell me what you think. T.O. was a real freak. Nobody wanted to tackle him. Roy Williams is about the only person I seen do it by himself.

 

[Jenky]

TO came here when he was like 33 years old so he was entering his twilight years, but he was still faster than most players and was extremely football smart in terms of route running and recognizing coverages and knowing how to get himself open.

When he was younger in San Francisco he was unstoppable. Maybe the greatest run after catch receiver ever. He could run wild through a secondary just because of how much bigger faster and stronger he was than DBs.

But Dez is the more natural pass catcher. He's also still very young and the mental part will only continue to improve as he ages.

TO did keep himself in tip top shape throughout his career. Dez is following the same suit already.

 

[TheFinisher]

TO did keep himself in tip top shape throughout his career. Dez is following the same suit already.

He definitely did. IIRC he said he learned the importance of being able to run all day from Jerry Rice.

 

[Jenky]

Watch the video of T.O. doing sit ups in his driveway and then tell me what you think. T.O. was a real freak. Nobody wanted to tackle him.

I've seen it. He was ripped. So is Dez. On the field, Dez looks like a wild stallion. He has that much energy and strength.

 

[Screw The Hall]

To me Owens is one of the most overrated players of all-time and it has nothing to do with skill. When you constantly run down your teammates and have a negative effect on team continuity, that matters. It diminishes your value as a player no different than how a great worker with a subversive negative attitude diminishes his value to a company. Dez and T.O. are polar opposites in that regard and it's why I think Dez is the better player and an infinitely better teammate.

 

[Jenky]

TO was a freak, he was much faster than dez, you didn't really worry about overthrowing him. For a bigger guy, he ran really precise routes too, knew where the soft spots in the zone were, so he wasn't hollering about targets for nothing. He was literally open on almost every play.

Dez has better hands, and much greater leaping ability. He attacks the ball at the point of the catch much better than TO did, but nowhere near the fluidity/versatility in running routes, and can't really burn DBs with sheer speed either. The most appropriate comparison to dez would be michael irvin. Moss and TO were the two most diva receivers I've watched, but undoubtedly, the two most physically gifted receivers ever.

IMO, if Moss kept his head on straight, he would have been the 1 guy who could have been the best.

 

[DejectedFan1996]

I love Dez just about as much as anyone but Terrell Owens is arguably the second best receiver to ever play the game. What was most admirable about Owens was the fact that he wasn't a physically gifted WR. He was a physical freak of nature in that he worked out a lot and kept himself in shape. But as a natural receiver (a la Randy Moss, Dez Bryant) he wasn't. He wasn't even supposed to play football; he was just good at it. He's flat footed, has bad hands, and doesn't have much leaping ability. Where he excelled was his work ethic, thanks to the greatest receiver of all time (Jerry Rice).

T.O's doesn't have the quickest startup speed, but once T.O. gets going, he's GONE.

His down the field blocking is severely under appreciated. He did things such as this on a consistent basis:



Also 1:40 in this video



What he does in those two clips is amazing. There was another clip I was looking for where Romo threw an INT against GB in 2008 in the end zone and T.O. gets knocked down and the DB is running close to mid field. T.O. sprints all the way from the end zone and makes the tackle.

T.O. also got GREAT separation while he was here and throughout his career. He and Romo accounted for 38 TD's in 3 years which was an NFL record at the time.

The offense mostly ran through T.O. while he was here. In 2007, we put him in motion quite a bit and created mismatches. Romo would hit T.O. in stride perfectly.

Example:



^^ Check out the amount of separation. And that's at age 35.

Dez's grabs are much better than T.O.'s in comparison, but he still has much to learn.

 

[theogt]

If you could get Terrell Owens in his prime, without the personality issues, you take him over any other receiver in the history of the game.

 

[WillieBeamen]

Im sorry but Dez is my current fav Cowboy but he is nowhere near TO in his prime. TO was rivaling Randy Moss as the best receiver after RICE.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

I notice a lot of people give the strength advantage to T.O. but I feel Dez is better. There are times when Dez has 5 or 6 guys draped all over him and he still never went down. I don't know how people forgot but T.O. was never the type of receiver that was a beast in traffic like Dez is. There where numerous times where he got alligator arms going over the middle. You never see that from Dez. His stiff arm is mean like a running back. With that being said T..O had jets Dez didn't have but Dez is more agile than T.O.

 

[gdogg24]

Dez is much much better in the redzone, that fade pass to the corner has become nearly automatic we didn't have that with TO. Both these guys could shred teams when they get the ball in their hands. I think it could be argued that TO had the speed edge but in the end just talking ability on the field I'd still go with Dez.

 

[ftghb]

pretty much the epitome of what owens could do to you in his prime. Remember, this was with noodle armed jeff garcia throwing the ball, so there was virtually no threat of a deep ball either.

 

[Nova]

Statistically Owens is top 3 all time, but I don't think as a whole he is a top 3 receiver all time. He would still be high on the list, but there are several other receivers I would rank higher than him.

Yeah it's debateable. Curious though. Other than the obvious Moss and Rice, who would you have above him?

 

[JBS]

I'd definitely agree that it looks like Dez has better hands. I can think of quite a few important drops TO had. There was one against buffalo 2007 at the end of the gwme. In 2007 against Green Bay he knocked an easy catch up into a defender's hands.

Dez has been making some really difficult catches look easy.

The dropped bomb in DC was pretty Damn bad

 

[ftghb]

I notice a lot of people give the strength advantage to T.O. but I feel Dez is better. There are times when Dez has 5 or 6 guys draped all over him and he still never went down. I don't know how people forgot but T.O. was never the type of receiver that was a beast in traffic like Dez is. There where numerous times where he got alligator arms going over the middle. You never see that from Dez. His stiff arm is mean like a running back. With that being said T..O had jets Dez didn't have but Dez is more agile than T.O.

dez bryant can handle smaller dbs, but even linebackers were bouncing off of TO. Check the NFC wildward video I posted above

 

[perrykemp]

Yeah it's debateable. Curious though. Other than the obvious Moss and Rice, who would you have above him?

IMHO along with Rice #1 it's hard to argue anybody other than Moss/Owens as the top 3 WRs of the modern era.

Irvin if he had played longer would be in the discussion.

Obviously Don Hutson is still often part of these conversations however personally I find it impossible to really evaluate legends of yester-year to guys from the modern era.

 

[DFWJC]

Parcells only coached Owens one season. Why wasn't Dallas able to make it work with Owens after Parcells left? Perhaps it is because of Owens.

No perhaps to it.
He was a great player who completely divided that locker room.
Still, if he was at full health,no way Dallas loses to the Giants in 2007. Except for a couple of plays they could have done it anyway.

 

[Nova]

IMHO along with Rice #1 it's hard to argue anybody other than Moss/Owens as the top 3 WRs of the modern era.

Irvin if he had played longer would be in the discussion.

Obviously Don Hutson is still often part of these conversations however personally I find it impossible to really evaluate legends of yester-year to guys from the modern era.

I never saw Hutson play so I can't speculate. But yeah other than Carter and Irvin who's left? Harrison and Isaac Bruce played in a similar era, but I don't think they're on Owens level.

Personally I thought we were seeing the two best WRs to play the game play at the same time. Most years Moss was better, but TO was better during a couple.

I remember when TO had a 4 TD game with us and then later in the day Brady hit moss for 4 TDs in the first half. Insane stuff.