By RANDY GALLOWAY
rgalloway@star-telegram.com
Look, it’s Eldorado Owens doing again what Eldo has always done. No new news here.
He’s an excuse-making, finger-pointing, fake-crying (that January scene is still laughable) fool. A talented football fool, although not worth the fraudulent behavior to any team with an owner in his right mind.
That’s why Owens is at Valley Ranch.
When the strong media reports surfaced at Valley Ranch on Thursday, it was no surprise Eldo was again involved in excuse-making, finger-pointing, and fake-crying, this time about his role in the offense.
Look out, Tony Romo. As if Tony doesn’t have enough problems, now he’s got Eldo mounting one of his familiar campaigns to take down a quarterback, and take down a team.
Great timing, of course. Owens could care less it’s the Giants coming to Texas Stadium on Sunday night. And that the Cowboys are in a win-or-else situation. He’s the Me Man.
But Romo must be doing something right. This time Eldo is involved in a back-stabbing campaign, based on several reports. With Donovan McNabb and Jeff Garcia he was verbally out front in going for the jugular, not the back.
In a case of bad judgment, Patrick Crayton and newcomer Roy Williams were receivers who became Owens’ lap dogs, joining Eldo in taking their complaints on Romo to offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.
Too bad for Crayton and Uno Uno. They lowered themselves to slime level. The whine of the threesome, according to Clarence Hill of this newspaper, was Romo’s distribution of passes favoring tight end Jason Witten.
A "buddy system" was the focus, which means Witten was getting more balls (which he’s not, at least compared with Owens) because he and Romo are close friends. This crap, of course, has Eldo written all over it.
Then ESPN.com’s Ed Werder followed with a report right out of Desperate Housewives, male version.
Get this:
" …Owens has e
xpressed resentment toward Romo, apparently jealous of the quarterback’s relationship with Witten.
"Owens feels that Romo and Witten hold private meetings in which they create plays the two will use in upcoming games without including Owens in the conversations." And Romo "seeks to deliver the ball to Witten regardless whether Owens is open."
This is like a squabble in eight-grade girls’ P.E.
Unfortunately, there’s no reason to doubt the validity of any of it. It’s Owens.
For the record, Werder, a veteran reporter and a longtime member of the Cowboys’ media contingent, was "congratulated" Thursday by a Valley Ranch front office executive for "writing the truth about this guy."
Actually, the biggest worry here really isn’t Owens, or at least he shouldn’t be. Jerry Jones continues to dangle dead rats by the tail, and the snake eats well due to Mr. Jones’ pampering.
Eldo is simply being Eldo.
But where is the leadership at Valley Ranch? How does Garrett, for one, allow three whining wideouts to come in for a shoulder cry without first telling them, "Hey, let me get Romo and Witten in here, and we can all hash it out?"
Weak, Jason. Real weak.
Then there’s Wade. His reply on Thursday at Valley Ranch was, "I know nothing." The sad truth is he was telling the truth. Wade knows nothing.
Jerry? He’s still in hiding after his stupid remarks postgame in Pittsburgh concerning Marion Barber’s "toughness."
Snow cone stands have more leadership than the Valley Ranch football team.
Romo, meanwhile, is coming off his Pittsburgh moment, and attempting to recover in time for the Giants.
But the irony of Owens yelping about favoritism for Witten is that Romo’s biggest interception problem of this season is attempting to force passes to Eldo. Two of the picks in Pittsburgh were on balls thrown to Owens, the first of which he was a disgrace in flat quitting on a route.
Reportedly, Eldo is still miffed because he was open on the game-deciding pick thrown in Pittsburgh late in the fourth quarter. It’s true, according to those who break down film. Owens was open at the sticks.
The problem for Romo was that he had a blitzing linebacker in his grill and on a "hot" read, threw what he hoped would be a timing route pass to Witten.
On the last play of that game, Crayton was open at the 50-yard line, and Romo flat missed him, instead hurling a pass in Witten’s direction that he never saw.
After that loss in Pittsburgh, Owens was a finger-pointing fool, directing all the blame at Romo, who had already taken the blame. It’s not that Eldo wasn’t factual, just flat wrong in saying it, while also not mentioning his gutless lack of effort on one of the picks.
Oh, yeah, did I mention the Giants are coming to town? It’s win or else for the Cowboys. But the struggling quarterback is already being blitzed and blindsided like crazy. By his own receivers.
Nice team.
