ESPN: Terrell Owens believes he should be on the other sideline Sunday

[RainMan]

T.O. is still a quality -- maybe even high quality -- NFL player, but he's no longer a super star No. 1 wideout. Those days are done, dating back to the second half of his final season here.

Beyond the chemistry issues with Romo and Witten, I think that's what posed the biggest issue for us moving forward. Owens is an alpha male, and was used to be treated as such in Dallas. I don't think he would have fared well being phased into a lesser role to allow guys like Roy (ugh), Miles, etc. emerge.

T.O. can do that in Buffalo and Cincinnati because he has no choice. But never, in my opinion, would he have willingly become a No. 2 here.

 

[TonyRomo09]

Lets look at the Cowboys losses that year leading up to the comment (that was following a 3 reception 31 yard game against Pitt.) A future hall of fame reciever, coming off a year where he made 80+ grabs for 1300+ yards and 15 touchdowns; you think *those* stats were getting him the ball sufficiently?

09/28WASL 24-26Yes4
7110/12@ARIL 24-30Yes43610/19@STLL 14-34Yes23111/02@NYGL 14-35Yes536

Yes and lets think about actually watching the GAMES, If TO could have Gotten open consistently he would have got the ball.. we all watched him fizzle against the press coverage week in and week out.. then one game the niners played off of him(stupidly) and he had a big game.. it wasn't Romo that limited his catches, it was Owens.. not getting open, and then dropping a number of the balls he did get thrown to him..

 

[VACowboy]

He did nothing wrong to be cut. He was cut simply because his presence was a distraction.

The pair of sentences above don't jive. If TO was a distraction to the team, Jerry had a darn good reason to cut him. There are lots of ways a player can be bad for a team besides sucking on the field.

I don't get how Jerry considering other opinions before making a decision makes a decision bad or wrong. I actually thought we wanted him to do more of that.

Edit: Bottom line, it worked out for the best for the team. How can anyone say TO should still be a Cowboy?

 

[JustDezIt]

Im not gonna hate on the guy, simply because i cheered for him when he helped this team. He ushered in the wave of winning that we are still riding today.

 

[superonyx]

Wow. Just Wow!!
I am amazed that people still feel sorry for TO and really believe he is a victim. You may not agree with the decision to cut him. But seriously? You want to think he is a victim? He is only a Victim of his own actions. Like it or not TO and everyone out there is responsible for what happens to them. Even if TO was perfect in Dallas yet he was such a distraction because of the media attention then it is his fault because it was his past actions that got him in that situation. Just like it was his fault he had to play in Buffalo last year where no one cared about him or his terrible team. It is his fault and only his fault.

I am not an anti TO kind of guy. I never hated him. In fact if i knew him personally i could see myself hanging out with him at times. I think he is charismatic and likable. I see why people like him. But this is a team. This is business. You need to be 100% a part of that team 100% of the time or you are out of here. If you rock the boat for any reason then you are responsible if you get tossed off. I dont know exactly what happened. I dont need to and neither should you.
All you need to know is TO was very productive and just signed a contract extension yet he was cut from the team because enough people inside of the team came to the decision that it was the right thing to do for the team.

How can anyone of you sit at home in front of a computer and think you know what really happened. And how can you seriously say he didnt deserve to be cut. He was cut. And if he didnt deserve it then he wouldnt have been. Its as simple as that.

As Parcels said "this is a replacement business". TO obviously made himself replaceable somehow.

 

[McCordsville Cowboy]

He should be on our team. Jerry didn't want to realease him.

However the fact was that it didn't matter what Owens did. His mere presence was a distraction to the team, and Jerry realized that.

T.O. is 100% correct, he should still be on our team. But with him on our team, he would have been a leader, and Owens is a player that needs a constant piece of humble pie.

I doubt he would have got it had he remained.

I still like Owens, but good riddance. I like Miles and Dez more than TO, and who knows if Austin emerges and we draft Dez.

Great post

 

[TonyRomo09]

this is the stupidest arguement ever.. anyone with a brain knows that Romo wasn't intentionally not throwing to Owens, if anything, he was trying to force it to Owens, i saw that lots of times, and thats why Romo's INTs have gone down drastically with Owens departure..

 

[Boyzmamacita]

I'm thinking he may BE Owens.

Imagine TO being so obsessed with his Cowboys past that he joins The Zone.

 

[superonyx]

Im not gonna hate on the guy, simply because i cheered for him when he helped this team. He ushered in the wave of winning that we are still riding today.

That sounds nice. But i am not sure i would say TO ushered in the wave that we are still riding today. If any one player did this it was Tony Romo. Now i dont think its just one guy. But i am having a hard time seeing what TO has done for us that we are still getting benefit from today.

 

[BHendri5]

Romo did exactly what I predicted he would do. I had said all along that once T.O. was gone Romo was going to go to another level. T.O.'s personality was too strong for Romo, so I understand Stephen staying on his dad to get rid of T.O., I did not like the move, I wanted T.O. to retire with a ring with the Boys.

He was not a distraction, the media was the distraction, Jerry likes the media around his team, I wished he would have banned the media, or just gave them very limited time.

The media can and will cause controversey if you let them. Yes, T.O. had to go so that our young guys could flourish, but they could have at least let him have the 09 season.

T.O. is still my favorite WR, then comes Miles and Dez, just off what I saw him do in the Big 12. Once T.O. retires, it will be Dez and Miles, in what order I do not know.

 

[SDCowboy]

Romo did exactly what I predicted he would do. I had said all along that once T.O. was gone Romo was going to go to another level. T.O.'s personality was too strong for Romo, so I understand Stephen staying on his dad to get rid of T.O., I did not like the move, I wanted T.O. to retire with a ring with the Boys.

He was not a distraction, the media was the distraction, Jerry likes the media around his team, I wished he would have banned the media, or just gave them very limited time.

The media can and will cause controversey if you let them. Yes, T.O. had to go so that our young guys could flourish, but they could have at least let him have the 09 season.

T.O. is still my favorite WR, then comes Miles and Dez, just off what I saw him do in the Big 12. Once T.O. retires, it will be Dez and Miles, in what order I do not know.

So TO throwing Romo, Witten the Garrett under the bus isn't a distraction? Yeah that makes perfect sense.

 

[NextGenBoys]

wanting to help the team, and thinking you can do that by getting the ball more is not wrong.. BUT!! Going to the media and telling the world that you think your QB should throw to you more, or that they draw up plays with the TE, and there is some sort of receptions conspiracy going on.. IS a problem..

When it happened in 2008, everyone called bull****.

Now everyone is going back on their words, and I'm the only one who truly still feels that way?

 

[VACowboy]

Miles had 11 TDs in the year following TO's departure and lead the NFC in yards. A year later, our receiving corps is young, deep and good. These facts tell me that Jerry made the perfect decision.

 

[Bluefin]

T.O.'s release allowed Miles Austin to blossom


By Tim MacMahon


CLEVELAND, Ohio – Forget for a moment who was at fault for Terrell Owens’ departure from Dallas. The reasons for the decision aren’t really relevant at this point.

It turned out to be the right move. The Cowboys were fortunate to have a readymade, drama-free replacement for T.O. already on the roster.

Miles Austin blossomed into one of the best receivers in the NFL last season, leading the NFC with 1,320 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns in his breakout campaign.

“I’m proud of Miles and what he’s been able to accomplish,” T.O. said. “He has a hell of a career in front of him.”

Austin’s accomplishments wouldn’t have been possible unless the Cowboys parted ways with T.O. Austin wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to blossom.

If T.O. is on the roster, Austin doesn’t get the chance to start against the Kansas City Chiefs when Roy Williams stayed home to nurse sore ribs. Patrick Crayton, who was clearly ahead of Austin on the depth chart until No. 19 set a franchise record with 250 receiving yards that afternoon, would have been the fill-in starter.

Not that Austin was an afterthought at Valley Ranch. The Cowboys were always intrigued by his size and speed. They believed Austin, who had a grand total of 18 catches for 354 yards and three touchdowns in his first three seasons, could develop into a dangerous deep threat.

But the Cowboys had no idea Austin was on the verge of stardom. Oh, owner Jerry Jones gushed in the spring of 2009 about Austin having the potential to replace T.O.’s production, but that was typical Jerry hyperbole. Austin would have entered the season as the starter – or at least been allowed to compete for the job in training camp – if the Cowboys were that high on him.

“I mean, we always knew he had skills,” said cornerback Terence Newman, who had practiced against Austin every day for the previous three years. “But as far as what he did last year, I didn’t know he could do it like that.”

The Cowboys might never have found out if they didn’t cut T.O.

 

[Wood]

I am just so tired of this guy (owens). Having lived in Philadelphia area while TO was on eagles...u could almost just take what happened there and apply it to dallas....Its never his fault and he never believes he causes locker room to divide...but the trends are all there to see....San Fran, Phily, Dallas all had divided locker rooms where the QB was ultimately blamed by TO....its a wonder any NFL QB even looks his way. Teams usually take min of one year to recover after TO departure. This Dallas team is so much better to watch...the media has to make stories out of Dez Bryant not carrying shoulder pads cause they cant find anything else.

 

[Bleu Star]

Im not gonna hate on the guy, simply because i cheered for him when he helped this team. He ushered in the wave of winning that we are still riding today.

You and I are squarely on the same page. TO didn't solely usher in the wave of winning but he was definitely part of the formula. This thread may go 20 pages though (of mostly nonsense). Should be fun. :

 

[The Rawhide Kid]

Miles had 11 TDs in the year following TO's departure and lead the NFC in yards. A year later, our receiving corps is young, deep and good. These facts tell me that Jerry made the perfect decision.

One could argue back and forth whether its Owens personal fault or just that the media had it out for him while he was in Dallas. But, it is obvious that the team has been better off without him. Personally, I enjoyed watching the Cowboys more with him gone. I was all for it when we got him. I defended the decision to sign him to all my friends and cheered for every catch and TD. But over the years I realized the problems he caused, even those that were not his fault, far outweighed his production on the field.

 

[Ware2010]

He never should have been here in the first place.

 

[rynochop]

T.O. is still a quality -- maybe even high quality -- NFL player, but he's no longer a super star No. 1 wideout. Those days are done, dating back to the second half of his final season here.

Beyond the chemistry issues with Romo and Witten, I think that's what posed the biggest issue for us moving forward. Owens is an alpha male, and was used to be treated as such in Dallas. I don't think he would have fared well being phased into a lesser role to allow guys like Roy (ugh), Miles, etc. emerge.

T.O. can do that in Buffalo and Cincinnati because he has no choice. But never, in my opinion, would he have willingly become a No. 2 here.

You have it exactly right. I just dont think IF he was here AND we had the emergence of Austin that we did, he would have accepted a lesser role...and/or be quiet about it.

You know, i dont think i've seen a topic about this before. :

 

[Ware2010]

It was a dumb *** signing and it backfired in Jerry's face just like everyone knew it would.