dboyz;1081614 said:
Anyway, I'm just wondering why you are questioning whether he still has it. Now, he might need to polish up on the offense a bit, but I think the physical skills are still there.
TO at 85% is still the best receiver in the league, imo. I had a discussion with a fan here a year or so ago who took badly my contention that Randy Moss wasn't nearly the receiver Owens was. So my opinion of TO's talent and ability is extremely high.
I've watched him as a wco receiver for years, like the rest of us, and think three factors are impacting him negatively right now. The playbook, his mastery of it, and his physical status.
Much of Owens' amazing capacity for YAC came on his understanding of the wco passing system, not just his strength. Of course, when he was signed here it was agreed an elite receiver can be effective in any system, but our playbook does not speak highly to Owens' skills, imo. He was adept working in an O that by nature spread the defense out, and allowed him to weed out double coverage (and also had the byproduct of preventing box stacking). I think TO had a great grasp of both the horizontal and vertical stretch, and you seldom saw what happened on that crossing pattern yesterday.
Bledsoe does not excel at slants, hitches, shallow crosses, the kind of plays that Owens would make 50 yards out of from 7 or 8...that was his amazing gift..but wco qbs usually have great touch as well as appropriate velocity, and at short range Bledsoe puts too many behind a receiver, or is just off enough to allow the defender to close.
I don't think we are doing enough of what TO does well. AKA slant throws that don't hit the recevier as he slants inwards, but lead him and stretch him out. Nobody is going to get YAC that way. Bledsoe's quick outs look too high, and turn-ins are below the belt. We need to run plays that actually dictate the coverages, not the other way around, but that's another story.
It's not on TO that Bledsoe can't consistently make the throws that Owens fed off for years, but it's a reason to NOT be optimistic about the future.
The second issue seems to be Owen's own timing and less than perfect understanding of his assignments .. the 'polishing' aspect as you said. That should have come in preseason but injury stalled it. Timing depend on running precise routes, and I don't think Owens is entirely comfy there yet. The drops signify that to me. I don't see TO in motion that much, do you? Or on delay routes? I take it as evidence that he's not fully integrated yet.
Thirdly, from years of watching him, I think I know what his physical capablities are. He could break tackles like none other, and was powerful enough to be able to do it when he was not at top speed. You can never get a good enough view on tv to feel sure of how a receiver drives off on his release, or if the guy drove the right foot on a rip move, but you can gauge overall strength and speed, and from what I've seen, whether through injury or age, Owens does not look like the same specimen on the field he used to be. He's far from approaching 'average' but that groin issue he had last season followed by the hammy make for nagging, sapping muscular effects that effect explosiveness, especially after age 30.
That's what I feel his physical 'decline' center on - he isn't as explosive as he was. That microsecond difference in response time that distinguished 'great' from 'effective'.
My overall feeling over four games is he is not the Terrell Owens of olde. I'm not a doctor, not a football player, but I've watched enough primo athletes on the field over time to feel comfortable saying it looks to me like a guy's lost a step, or half of one. (we sure all saw it with Key - who is still a very effective receiver) The look of Owens amazing body dispels the diagnosis, but I also think his body type isn't one that wears as well as a Rice or Holt or Harrison.
The broken finger--that doesn't help either, but it's a minor nuisance that will clear up.
I just don't look at him and see the player he was in Philly in 04 and the first half of 05. That he could be close to it again with more familiarity with the Dallas passing O and with his own 'polishing', I don't doubt. But I think there's been some physical fall off that has to be expected at his age....an overall falloff that CAN, I have to add, be compensated for with vet experience.
