View Full Version : Speaking of T.O.

11-07-2005, 10:56 AM

Despite loss, Eagles better not bring T.O. back

Under no circumstances should Terrell Owens play another down for the Philadelphia Eagles.

If I were a member of the Eagles' hierarchy, I wouldn't even let him pass out water bottles at the half or sweep up the locker room.

And a loss on national television, another potentially crippling loss to a division foe, shouldn't change the Eagles' mind.

The Eagles cannot function properly with this selfish, arrogant, self-serving, pompous, clueless jerk shooting his mouth off, fighting Hugh Douglas, ripping the star quarterback and making asinine statements about the classy Eagles organization.

Look, Philly did the right thing by suspending T.O. without pay. Under the collective bargaining agreement, you can suspend a ball player for up to four games for conduct detrimental to the team. After that, the Eagles should "Keyshawn" him. In modern times, this means pay him his weekly stipend, while requesting that he doesn't come close to setting foot at the team facilities, just like the Bucs did with Keyshawn Johnson.

Not having Owens on the team, especially in the locker room, is addition by subtraction. This team cannot function with the daily soap opera.

A person with such an ugly persona doesn't deserve to wear the Eagles' uniform.

I hope the Eagles don't become surprisingly soft after losing to the Redskins 17-10. Reports on Sunday night indicate that Owens and coach Andy Reid are going to get together for a little meeting of the minds (assuming T.O. has one) to come to a resolution.

The only resolution that works is one where Owens never plays another down for this team.

Reid knows the deal. Donovan McNabb knows the deal. Brian Dawkins knows the deal. T.O. is a malcontent. He's a self-absorbed egomaniac that will always do something disruptive, mind-blowing and counterproductive.

And even if you get him to behave for a moment, anyone with the maturity level of a 5-year-old will act up again. Precedent proves this to be true.

Oh, he might question his quarterback's sexuality, dance on the Cowboys' star, get suspended for end-zone celebrations, force a trade, not be happy with one destination, get traded somewhere else, sign a deal that the players association begs him not to and then proceed to bitch and moan about it forever.

He might throw verbal jabs at his star quarterback in the off-season after the Super Bowl, belittle his offensive coordinator, get chucked out of training camp, go home, make a jackass out of himself doing sit ups in his driveway, wear a Michael Irvin jersey after a crushing Eagles loss in Dallas, employ Michael Irvin as his personal public-relations spokesperson, request Brett Favre as his quarterback, come to blows with a former teammate now working for the organization and wrongly rip the team that pays him.

Other than that, T.O. gets it.

What a fool.

I don't know exactly what T.O.'s going to do, just that it will be something that hurts the team should he be brought back.

Part of the reason he was suspended in the first place was because he refused to apologize to his teammates and directly to McNabb after his moronic comments this week.

Is this guy for real? Are we back in kindergarten?

And for a guy who's always complaining about the bucks, he is committing career suicide. When he is officially off of the Eagles' payroll next year, there is no chance he gets a mega-bucks deal. In the salary-cap world, could you actually take a flier, no matter how talented the player, on a guy who is guaranteed to be a human wrecking ball in your locker room?

The Eagles shouldn't look back. Suspend Owens without pay for four games, then "Keyshawn" him. Don't get duped by losing Sunday night. This is bigger than a game. It's about pride for an organization which is nothing but class, from Jeffrey Lurie, to Joe Banner, to Andy Reid, to PR head Derek Boyko.

11-07-2005, 10:58 AM

Who will want Owens now?

Andy Reid and the Eagles knew the risk when they traded for receiver Terrell Owens.

He got them to one Super Bowl, and by pushing $7.5 million of bonus money into the 2006 season ? money that T.O. won't ever collect now ? they protected their salary cap in the process.

It was that bonus money that Owens was crying about earlier this year. It was why he wanted to renegotiate so badly. The Eagles, primarily vice president Joe Banner, never budged, never flinched. Owens hired top agent Drew "Rosehips," but he was unable to receive even one proposal from Banner. Both sides dug in their heels, and now Owens is suspended from Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins. The Eagles might even dock him his weekly paycheck of $205,882.

The Eagles could suspend him for three more games, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. Of course, he could also apologize to quarterback Donovan McNabb for saying the Eagles would "be undefeated if Brett Favre" was Philadelphia's quarterback all season.

If Owens apologizes to the quarterback and his teammates for his statements and actions, there's a good chance that Reid will reinstate Owens for next Sunday's game against Dallas.

If Owens doesn't apologize, it's anyone's guess what will happen next. The Eagles could maintain the suspension or even decide to simply release him, believing his great talents are no longer worth the locker-room turmoil he creates. There's the outside chance that Reid believes he can still fix Owens ? you know, straighten him out.

If the Eagles give up on him, what team will want Owens? Would anyone claim him and the remaining $1.65 million on his contract?

It seems unlikely that he would be claimed. Many teams don't have that available salary-cap room, while other teams, like the Vikings and 49ers, definitely need a game-breaking receiver but would steer clear of him. Seriously, can you see either one of them signing him?

Most believe that Raiders owner Al Davis would want Owens. But there's no way with the salary cap that Davis could afford Owens, considering all the money he's paying Randy Moss and Jerry Porter.

"We're having a hard enough time getting the ball to Randy, who is the game's best receiver," said one Raiders insider. "We've been doing our best to get rid of troublemakers. Why would we want him?"

The bottom line is that Owens has cooked his own goose. He's been screaming about being underpaid and underappreciated, but what team is going to throw a $10 million bonus at him under these circumstances?

The answer is no one.

11-07-2005, 12:57 PM
He is an embarassment to the entire sport.

11-07-2005, 02:50 PM
This was a good move by Reid... T.O. is such a cancer, he destroyed the four time NFC champion Eagles pretty much by himself. I can't imagine any other team is willing to take a shot on him, but you know someone will. He will likely never get the big contract he wanted, and he will probabaly be on one year deals the rest of his career.

If he gets released, the team or teams with the worst records get first chance to pick him up off waivers. (Packers / Texans)