TO Blames ESPN For His Unemployment

[NextGenBoys]

Thing is when he was in his prime teams were willing to put up with his act for a while. As your skills start to fade teams will not waste their time on you. That is why Holt was able to extend his career and why TO right now is without a team.

My point is, teams still look at his attitude like he's in his prime, and his physical attributes of current day.

I think the constant stories about TO turned many off to his attitude without even looking at him as an option.

Was his attitude a problem in the past? You bet.

Last year? Not at all. Why would that change now when it's even harder to find work?

Whoever signs him will get a pretty good receiver -- granted they have a decent quarterback.

 

[gimmesix]

That is what the media does and any person in the NFL with a lick of intelligence knows this.

I don't know. It seems more selective than that. Some players that do "bad" things have anything they do that's even close to controversial covered by ESPN like it's a major story. Others don't get much press other than when they do something that really deserves it.

It depends on the popularity/notoriety of the player.

 

[gimmesix]

The problem with TO's theory is that NFL teams don't give two hoots in hell for ESPN's analysis of most things. You hear it all the time. Especially after the Draft. There is always commentary and the NFL teams pay no attention to it.

Suddenly these same 32 teams are all swayed by ESPN's too harsh criticism of him?

Maybe it's just me, but I find that to be a little hard to believe. Much more likely a reason is that TO is over pricing himself, his skills are declining, and the teams know more about what does happen than the media and fans ever create in our wildest conspiracy theories.

Oh, I agree with that. I don't think teams pay any attention to what ESPN has to say, and in that regard, Owens is delusional.

I think his comment is more geared to the fact that his behavior is magnified by the way ESPN covers him, and I agree with that. But that only really affects how fans view him. (I tried not to do that and let his actions speak for themselves, and he ultimately lived down to his reputation.)

Now, some teams could see such coverage as a potential headache, but I don't think that would keep them from signing him if they felt his ability still matched his asking price.

 

[Bluefin]

Was his attitude a problem in the past? You bet.

Last year? Not at all. Why would that change now when it's even harder to find work?

Easy answer.

Terrell Owens was playing on a one year deal last season and hoped to show enough to get one more nice contract this year.

Owens behaved in Dallas when his contract was structured as a series of one year deals with roster bonuses due every off-season.

As soon as Jerry Jones made the mistake of re-upping with Owens on a regular contract extension, the **** hit the fan and we got rid of him after the season.

Whoever signs him will get a pretty good receiver -- granted they have a decent quarterback.

They might get a pretty good receiver for a week here or there.

Owens will have an occasional big game (197yds in '09, 213yds in '08), but disappear for very long stretches most of the time.

Owens is no longer explosive enough to show up every week.

In '08, he needed that 200 yard game and over 100 yards the last week of the season to even reach the 1000 yard plateau. In '09, he needed the one big game to even make his stats worth looking at.

Owens has only logged 3 games north of 100 yards in the last two years.

I don't consider him to be pretty good at this point.

Owens was never a great route runner, he doesn't enjoy playing in traffic and he all but refuses to leave his feet to go after passes. He doesn't do the other things good enough to make up for declining physical skills.

And defenses are no longer scared, they will press Owens at will and shut him down most days.

To compare, even if you took away Miles Austin's franchise record 250 yard day against the Chiefs last year, he still had over 1000 yards for the season with only 11 other starts.

Take away Owens' big days each of the last two years and you're looking at a JAG.

Owens can blame the media if he desires, but for someone so fond of looking in the mirror, it's hard to believe he can't see reality.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Owens will have an occasional big game (197yds in '09, 213yds in '08), but disappear for very long stretches most of the time.

Owens is no longer explosive enough to show up every week.

In '08, he needed that 200 yard game and over 100 yards the last week of the season to even reach the 1000 yard plateau. In '09, he needed the one big game to even make his stats worth looking at.

Owens has only logged 3 games north of 100 yards in the last two years.

I don't consider him to be pretty good at this point.

Owens was never a great route runner, he doesn't enjoy playing in traffic and he all but refuses to leave his feet to go after passes. He doesn't do the other things good enough to make up for declining physical skills.

And defenses are no longer scared, they will press Owens at will and shut him down most days.

To compare, even if you took away Miles Austin's franchise record 250 yard day against the Chiefs last year, he still had over 1000 yards for the season with only 11 other starts.

Take away Owens' big days each of the last two years and you're looking at a JAG.

Wow this is a great response and right on the :money:

 

[LeonDixson]

Easy answer.

Terrell Owens was playing on a one year deal last season and hoped to show enough to get one more nice contract this year.

Owens behaved in Dallas when his contract was structured as a series of one year deals with roster bonuses due every off-season.

As soon as Jerry Jones made the mistake of re-upping with Owens on a regular contract extension, the **** hit the fan and we got rid of him after the season.



They might get a pretty good receiver for a week here or there.

Owens will have an occasional big game (197yds in '09, 213yds in '08), but disappear for very long stretches most of the time.

Owens is no longer explosive enough to show up every week.

In '08, he needed that 200 yard game and over 100 yards the last week of the season to even reach the 1000 yard plateau. In '09, he needed the one big game to even make his stats worth looking at.

Owens has only logged 3 games north of 100 yards in the last two years.

I don't consider him to be pretty good at this point.

Owens was never a great route runner, he doesn't enjoy playing in traffic and he all but refuses to leave his feet to go after passes. He doesn't do the other things good enough to make up for declining physical skills.

And defenses are no longer scared, they will press Owens at will and shut him down most days.

To compare, even if you took away Miles Austin's franchise record 250 yard day against the Chiefs last year, he still had over 1000 yards for the season with only 11 other starts.

Take away Owens' big days each of the last two years and you're looking at a JAG.

Owens can blame the media if he desires, but for someone so fond of looking in the mirror, it's hard to believe he can't see reality.

I like your answer. As to the bolded part, people suffering from paranoia with a superiority complex rarely see reality; and IMHO that describes Owens to a tee.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Easy answer.

Terrell Owens was playing on a one year deal last season and hoped to show enough to get one more nice contract this year.

Owens behaved in Dallas when his contract was structured as a series of one year deals with roster bonuses due every off-season.

As soon as Jerry Jones made the mistake of re-upping with Owens on a regular contract extension, the **** hit the fan and we got rid of him after the season.



They might get a pretty good receiver for a week here or there.

Owens will have an occasional big game (197yds in '09, 213yds in '08), but disappear for very long stretches most of the time.

Owens is no longer explosive enough to show up every week.

In '08, he needed that 200 yard game and over 100 yards the last week of the season to even reach the 1000 yard plateau. In '09, he needed the one big game to even make his stats worth looking at.

Owens has only logged 3 games north of 100 yards in the last two years.

I don't consider him to be pretty good at this point.

Owens was never a great route runner, he doesn't enjoy playing in traffic and he all but refuses to leave his feet to go after passes. He doesn't do the other things good enough to make up for declining physical skills.

And defenses are no longer scared, they will press Owens at will and shut him down most days.

To compare, even if you took away Miles Austin's franchise record 250 yard day against the Chiefs last year, he still had over 1000 yards for the season with only 11 other starts.

Take away Owens' big days each of the last two years and you're looking at a JAG.

Owens can blame the media if he desires, but for someone so fond of looking in the mirror, it's hard to believe he can't see reality.

Owens has had to look hard for work twice after being released by us twice. Yes the one year deal was partially why he was on good behavior, but it's not like he's going to be getting anything different this time around.

So if he acted fine with one year deals in the past, why would be act selfish now when he's looking even harder for work, and is 2 years older?

And I'm not suggesting Owens is an elite game breaker anymore. He lost that after 2007. He would however be in the top half of #2's in the league.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I loathe ESPN. They personify everything that is wrong with sports journalism today and what's ironic is when they take bloggers and sports radio people to task for the very same behavior they perform on a daily basis.

I think Owens has a point to a degree. I'm really not sure had ESPN acted professionally and not just gone with rumors and innuendo and whatever garbage Mr. Blue Suit had to spew, that he would not be a Dallas Cowboy.

Not that I want him as a Cowboy. I like the team we have now. But, the facts are he may still have been employed as a Cowboy had Mr. Blue Suit didn't have such a vendetta against him. Remember, this is the same reporter that weeks before his report came out, claimed that Owens was crying after a Bengals game because 'he didn't get the ball enough' when in fact it was later reported that Owens had a close friend die earlier that week and he was thinking about that. Then Owens in particular pointed this out, as ESPN and Mr. Blue Suit were unwilling to apologize for the report, and Owens would not answer Mr. Blue Suit's question.

Again, I am glad he's not a Cowboy anymore...mainly because if he sneezed ESPN would be there saying he's trying to poison the rest of his team. But I do think he got a raw deal from ESPN and all of their lackies in the local Dallas media. And I don't think it should just be accepted either.






YR

 

[CowboyDan]

[/b]
I like your answer. As to the bolded part, people suffering from paranoia with a superiority complex rarely see reality; and IMHO that describes Owens to a tee.

And this is why TO is the Cowboy most like me.

As to his declining stats, does anyone think it has anything to do with the fact that he was in Buffalo last year, and that in 08 Romo was hurt for a few games, so he had the vaunted gunslinger Brad Johnson tossing the rock around? I'm not a big TO fan or anything, but I think he's still a very good receiver. (can't knock on him for route running or great hands because he's never been that kind of WR)

 

[monkey]

I highlighted that part because you partially hit the nail on the head.

It's not that a player is a distraction. Normally it is not his actions that cause the distraction, yet how the media runs with it.

The distraction is the media asking about the player, not anything the player does. The media creates, and IS the distraction.

I fully believe the reason TO was released was simply having him on the team was a distraction, no matter what he did. Everything was about him all the time, and like Jerry Jones said, the Dallas Cowboys are more important than that.

Agreed. The annoying thing is that ESPN tries to act like they don't do this/don't make the sports news. Just like the incessant coverage of Lebron's decision.

 

[Suave]

Easy answer.

Terrell Owens was playing on a one year deal last season and hoped to show enough to get one more nice contract this year.

Owens behaved in Dallas when his contract was structured as a series of one year deals with roster bonuses due every off-season.

As soon as Jerry Jones made the mistake of re-upping with Owens on a regular contract extension, the **** hit the fan and we got rid of him after the season.



They might get a pretty good receiver for a week here or there.

Owens will have an occasional big game (197yds in '09, 213yds in '08), but disappear for very long stretches most of the time.

Owens is no longer explosive enough to show up every week.

In '08, he needed that 200 yard game and over 100 yards the last week of the season to even reach the 1000 yard plateau. In '09, he needed the one big game to even make his stats worth looking at.

Owens has only logged 3 games north of 100 yards in the last two years.

I don't consider him to be pretty good at this point.

Owens was never a great route runner, he doesn't enjoy playing in traffic and he all but refuses to leave his feet to go after passes. He doesn't do the other things good enough to make up for declining physical skills.

And defenses are no longer scared, they will press Owens at will and shut him down most days.

To compare, even if you took away Miles Austin's franchise record 250 yard day against the Chiefs last year, he still had over 1000 yards for the season with only 11 other starts.

Take away Owens' big days each of the last two years and you're looking at a JAG.

Owens can blame the media if he desires, but for someone so fond of looking in the mirror, it's hard to believe he can't see reality.

Excellent post, my man. Very well stated.

 

[ZeroClub]

I don't know. It seems more selective than that. Some players that do "bad" things have anything they do that's even close to controversial covered by ESPN like it's a major story. Others don't get much press other than when they do something that really deserves it.

It depends on the popularity/notoriety of the player.

Yeah, I think that's right.

Owens successfully managed to turn himself into a celebrity. For a time he was the Paris Hilton of the NFL. He still draws paparazzi-like coverage from the sports media.

Owens did many things to call attention to himself, especially in SF and Philly. He courted the media coverage and now he's married to it (for better or for worse).

It is also very disappointing that ESPN has become mindless sports paparazzi.

I am sure there are franchises that don't want to deal with the media drama component of having Owens on their team, particularly now that Owens is no longer a dynamic player.

So Owens has a point. However he doesn't seem to recognize how he is largely responsible for his present situation.

 

[JoeCorrado]

Yes or no, do you believe that Terrell Owens causes locker room problems?

"Problems" unless defined- is a relative term. Do I believe that he was some sort of a locker room "cancer" - the answer is no. Do I believe that he (and his attitude) created distractions? Sure. But distractions are the norm for any player in the NFL- players deal with "distractions" in stride, or they themselves become the next distraction.

ESPN creates the story, the drama, the "distraction" to better peddle their own product. Terrell Owens SELLS- he sells commercial time for ESPN, and he sells TICKETS for NFL owners. Love him or hate him- the guy does draw attention, he does sell tickets. Did you think that Buffalo brought him to town as some missing piece to their SB aspirations, or to sell tickets?

Owens was one of the most productive WR in the NFL during his tenure with the Cowboys. I have no complaints. Do you? Owens was a distraction at times- no doubt. And so are hundreds of other NFL players to some degree or another. How did the scales balance out for the team during his tenure here?

Bro, I usually don’t bash other posters and I do respect people’s opinions, but you got to be kidding me right! :laugh2:

Please be a little more exact in your bewilderment. Just what is it that you did not understand? I'll be happy to elaborate.

 

[tico]

Carolina needs a reciever!

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

"Problems" unless defined- is a relative term. Do I believe that he was some sort of a locker room "cancer" - the answer is no. Do I believe that he (and his attitude) created distractions? Sure. But distractions are the norm for any player in the NFL- players deal with "distractions" in stride, or they themselves become the next distraction.

ESPN creates the story, the drama, the "distraction" to better peddle their own product. Terrell Owens SELLS- he sells commercial time for ESPN, and he sells TICKETS for NFL owners. Love him or hate him- the guy does draw attention, he does sell tickets. Did you think that Buffalo brought him to town as some missing piece to their SB aspirations, or to sell tickets?

Owens was one of the most productive WR in the NFL during his tenure with the Cowboys. I have no complaints. Do you? Owens was a distraction at times- no doubt. And so are hundreds of other NFL players to some degree or another. How did the scales balance out for the team during his tenure here?




Please be a little more exact in your bewilderment. Just what is it that you did not understand? I'll be happy to elaborate.

T.O. is done. Wake up.

Owens needs a "decent QB" to moderately excel but there isn't a team crazy enough to subject their "decent QB" to the beligered WR and confused individual.

Terrell is a proven locker room disease waiting to happen and a coaching nightmare.


The "man" is a self-centered, phycologically challenged, simpleton who would throw anyone under the bus just for kicks and giggles because the worl revolves around T.O..

 

[DallasEast]

"Problems" unless defined- is a relative term. Do I believe that he was some sort of a locker room "cancer" - the answer is no. Do I believe that he (and his attitude) created distractions? Sure. But distractions are the norm for any player in the NFL- players deal with "distractions" in stride, or they themselves become the next distraction.

Basically, you deny that he is a locker room problem.

Thanks.

ESPN creates the story, the drama, the "distraction" to better peddle their own product. Terrell Owens SELLS- he sells commercial time for ESPN, and he sells TICKETS for NFL owners. Love him or hate him- the guy does draw attention, he does sell tickets. Did you think that Buffalo brought him to town as some missing piece to their SB aspirations, or to sell tickets?

The Bills gifted him with a one-year contract. Taking into consideration the personnel already in place, they had absolutely no Super Bowl aspirations--much less playoff hopes.

True, they brought Owens in to heighten fan enthusiasm. However, football rosters do not exist within vaccuums. The Bills front office evaluated their wide receiver corps.

They made the determination of whether Owens in the short-term would diminish, steady or improve their receiving options for one year. Even at his age (both last season and now), Owens' receiving skills would not be detrimental within any passing offense.

Would his skills elevate any passing offense significantly? That's debatable. In Buffalo's case, it didn't. Still, he complemented Lee Evans well enough to keep the Bills offense respectible and steady it for an entire season.

This allowed the Bills front office to maintain a good enough product for 2009 and extend their evaluation of the position for another year. Under the terms of their contract with Owens, it was an understandable gamble which paid off. That's a case of good short-term and intermediate football personnel management which Buffalo should be complimented.

Owens was one of the most productive WR in the NFL during his tenure with the Cowboys. I have no complaints. Do you?

On the field? With the exception of his totally unnecessary penalty attracting antics, I haven't any complaints (except for an occasion where he could have gained a critical first down and decided not to, but I digress).

Off the field? Of course. Owens is, and always will be, a liability onto himself. If he had prevented himself from engaging in totally unnecessary self-glorifications (with an example being his completely avoidable one-on-one nationally televised interview with Deion Sanders), there is a high probability that he would have retired as a Dallas Cowboy in my opinion.

Still, Owens is Owens and that was never going to come to fruition. Simply put, he can't help himself. I recognized that trait within him within his first few seasons in San Francisco. It didn't surprise me then and it certainly didn't surprise me many years later when he played here.

That's always been the problem I have had with Owens. While media entities like ESPN tend to describe him as a cancer for teams, he has always inflicted himself with a terminal version. That's his choice and definitely not ESPN's fault.

Throughout its history, the NFL has seen (and will continue to see) various incarnations of the "Terrell Owens" within its player ranks--namely, extremely talented, yet woefully idiotic and self-defeating. The league has both endured and prospered in spite of these idiots and it will continue on without him. That's an essential life and career lesson which Owens will never embrace. For people like him, it is always (both literally and figuratively) someone else's fault for his own shortcomings. Poetic.

Owens was a distraction at times- no doubt. And so are hundreds of other NFL players to some degree or another. How did the scales balance out for the team during his tenure here?

You are correct in stating: "And so are hundreds of other NFL players to some degree or another". Some (and him included) will simply never grasp the sheer, innate essense of what that truly means.

As far as his tenure here is concerned, what of it? Did he contribute a bunch of receiving yards and touchdowns while he was here? Yep. Did he do just enough to help remove himself from this team's offensive equation in 2009?

Yep, but don't ask him, you or anyone else sympathetic to him. His woes are, "to some degree or another", [strike]ESPN[/strike] someone else's fault. Always has been. Always will.

 

[jimmy40]

me too

after seeing this response TO now only blames himself.

 

[zrinkill]

Owens can and does play by the rules as much as most NFL players- and is less a distraction than our very own young "wanna be a star" TE Bennett.

I'll side with TO on this. There's no reason he shouldn't be able to find a job.

me too

:laugh2:

One guy I have never heard of ..... a worst poster poster finalist ...... and the worst poster winner.

That is a great defense team.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I am not sure what I find more alarming…those who still stick up for ESPN or when Bill Simmons writes something like this about a fellow ESPN guy.

Stephen A. Smith wins the Woodward & Bernstein Award for reporting last week that Wade/LeBron/Bosh in Miami was "done." I thought it was ridiculous. How could it be "done"? Bosh and LeBron were committing to an owner, president and coach without meeting any of them?

My guess at the time: Smith got word that Miami was in the lead, took it and ran with it, then hoped he was right. If he was right, he became the big winner of the summer of 2010. If he was wrong, he could always claim that he WAS right, but that something got screwed up and things changed.

I’ve had posters here last year that couldn’t believe it when I told them of sports writers/reporter friends of mine who didn’t think too highly of Mr. Blue Suit as a reporter and were critical of his reporting on the Cowboys and Owens.

Here we have Bill Simmons basically saying that Stephen A. Smith probably made up the story based on a guess and if he got it wrong, well that was okay. And from reading the rest of the article, it seems that Simmons is okay with that.

THAT is the climate over at ESPN with their reporting and many other sports reporters/writers know that and obviously many do not like it. I just wish some would be able to accept that their reporters are not as highly respected as they claim they are.



YR

 

[Vtwin]

TO is an immature boy in a mans body. Doesn't excuse the behavior that attracts the media attention but I have a bit of sympathy for him because he just doesn't know better.

ESPN is a cold. calculating, merciless, controversy generating, machine.

Their "reporting" when it comes to personalities like TO is akin to the the cool kids picking on the slow kid on the playground.

I'd buy TO a beer. I'd smash my empty bottle over ESPN's head.