Kirk Bohls of the Austin Statesman writes that releasing Terrell Owens was a colossally stupid move by owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys.
Let’s recap this colossally stupid move.
Jones just cut his leading receiver and arguably his team’s best offensive weapon, who put up 38 touchdowns in three seasons. (Sorry, Jason Witten doesn’t get in the end zone enough, and Roy Williams has not proven he can be a No. 1 receiver.)
Jones listened to the wrong people and, against his better judgment, sent packing a no-brainer Hall of Famer who should be picked up by the New York Giants to replace their other headache receiver, Plaxico Burress. (TO would get to play the Cowboys and Eagles four times a season, and unlike the G-man packing heat, Owens isn’t facing a suspension by the league or jail time.)
If Owens was a big problem for Dallas, he was problem No. 8. Or lower.
There are so many other things wrong with the Cowboys that any annoying distraction Owens brought to the locker room should fall way down the list of the reasons Dallas hasn’t won a playoff game since 1996.
Here are the Cowboys’ four biggest problem areas:
General manager.
Head coach.
Quarterback.
Offensive coordinator.
And those are just for starters.
Bohls is dead on the money when he says that the Cowboys have bigger issues than T.O., which is why Jerry Jones’ next moves are so pivotal. If he cuts a talent like T.O., but fails to address what else is wrong with Dallas (read Bohls entire piece for how many issues the Cowboys have), then it will be all for naught. It doesn’t make sense to get rid of one destruction force, but then doing nothing to fix the other issues.
Was releasing T.O. a “colossally stupid move”? I wouldn’t go that far. But I do agree that there are bigger issues at hand and if Jones doesn’t follow through with other changes then yes, releasing Owens would have been pointless.
