skinsscalper;1070846 said:
First of all, let's get one thing straight. The Eagles organization, coaching staff, and Donovan McNabb destroyed the Eagles team last year, NOT T.O.
SS
That was some entertaining post, and with enough truth in it to shed light on the core of the TO 'problem' last year: Philly got Owens on the relative cheap and was unwilling to renegotiate his contract off his superlative 04 performance. Of course, the FO was well within its right to refuse to do so. But one can also understand Owens' position.
How McNabb played in the SuperBowl or in 05 when injured is irrelevant. The crux of Owens' ire was not Donovan's performance, but that TO wasn't getting paid when he proved himself that 'last addition' needed to reach the SB.
Owens WAS underpaid, and he had an agent who was not about to let him forget it. His antics backfired, but that doesn't diminish the fact that Philly has been notorious (like New England) for underpaying players (in general), and propagating the notion that coaching more than anything has kept them competitive (which may be true - but no player wants to hear it.)
McNabb did get paid tho, and as you say, became Company Man extraordinaire, a move that had to piss off more than one underpaid team-mate, and explains the reason why TO was never the anathema in the locker room he was made out to be. (Funny how the only other player who had a publicized issue with Owens was the so-called, self-appointed "Ambassador", Company Man Douglas.)
Rosenhaus miscalculated and Owens lacked the self-discipline to play his cards right, and it all blew up. They both acted like the exhibitionist arses they so easily can be...but the fact remains that Owens' 'issues' were limited to the FO and its stooges...not acrimoniously expanded to the entire team.
