Tag: Terrell Owens (Page 9 of 21)

Daily Six-Pack: NFL Preseason Thursday

Four games are on the Week 1 NFL preseason schedule tonight and there are some interesting headlines to follow. Below are six quick-hit thoughts on tonight’s action.

1. Brady returns to live action
The last time Tom Brady took a snap in a live NFL game, he tore both his MCL and ACL after suffering a season-ending hit in Week 1 of the 2008 season. Brady returns to action tonight and will start against the Eagles in Philadelphia. He probably won’t get more than a series or two, but if everything goes well, it’ll be yet another promising sign that Brady has recovered from the devastating knee injury that almost ruined his career.

2. Is Flacco in store for a major sophomore slump?
Reports out of Baltimore haven’t been promising for second-year quarterback Joe Flacco, who has struggled in the passing game thus far in training camp. He apparently has struggled reading defenses, is missing open receivers and has thrown a high number of interceptions. The Ravens would like to open the playbook more in Flacco’s second year, but if his struggles carry into the preseason, then the team might have to scale back his responsibilities and once again make him more of a game-manager like he was as a rookie.

3. How will the T.O.-less Cowboys look?
During the offseason, one of the main reasons the Cowboys cut toxic (but highly productive) receiver Terrell Owens was so that quarterback Tony Romo wouldn’t have any distractions entering the 2009 season. Dallas wants Romo to step up and be more of a leader both in the locker room and on the field and it would appear that the 29-year-old’s career is at a crossroads. One preseason game in Oakland isn’t going to answer whether or not Romo is ready to become the leader that Dallas wants him to be, but it’ll be interesting to see how well he gels with his receivers without T.O. commanding his attention. Apparently Romo and Roy Williams are finally starting to get their timing down.

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Should G-Men fear Cowboys in 2009?

Our very own Mike Farley covers the Giants for the blog GMENDEN and in one of his recent pieces he ponders whether or not the boys in blue should be fearful of the Cowboys.

Well I don’t know about you, but I’m equally afraid of Dallas as I am of Philly. It’s not like the Cowboys purged their entire roster. They did get rid of two questionable characters in Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones. But Tony Romo is minus Jessica Simpson and is healthy…you might remember he missed a few games last season, and having Brad Johnson run that offense was like putting a toddler in charge of a nuclear power plant. TE Jason Witten was also hurt for much of the season, though he played through pain. Rookie Felix Jones made everyone forget about Julius Jones, and DeMarcus Ware was just terrorizing QBs with an NFL-best 20 sacks.

You’ll also remember that while our G-men beat up on the Romo-less Cowboys in November, 35-14, they let a less-than-100% Romo beat them in December during the skid that led to our downfall by a 20-8 score. You rememer that game, right? It was a Sunday nighter, and the Giants managed just two field goals and a safety, as Eli Manning could not get on track.

So while the Cowboys finished 9-7 in 2008, you have to wonder if they would have won at least two of those games Johnson started in Romo’s place. As much as everyone likes to poke fun at Romo and his tendency to choke under pressure, he’s been mostly very tough against us–tough to take down, and always hitting clutch third-down throws while under pressure.

The NFC East will once again be one of the toughest divisions in football and as Farley points out, nobody should be sleeping on the Cowboys.

Personally, I think cutting T.O. will be addition by subtraction, although the spotlight is now on Romo. If he can’t step up and be a leader for this team, then there’s a great chance that their talent won’t be enough again. As much as his fun-loving demeanor is one of the endearing parts of his game, it’s time for Romo to take that next step as a quarterback and put the Cowboys’ success squarely on his shoulders.

Now, that’s not to say that Romo has to do it on his own. Dallas has one of the more talented rosters in the NFL and Romo is just one key piece. But guys like Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady know what it takes to get the most out of the talent around them. Romo has failed to do that so far in Dallas.

Terrell Owens takes moral high ground on Michael Vick?

http://www.everyjoe.com/files/2009/03/terrell-owens-bills-csmphoto195531-20081228-zaf-cp4-031.jpg

Since Michael Vick got out of jail (and out of house arrest), there’s been a lot up in the air about whether or not he’d have a further punishment handed down from the NFL. While a decision concerning a four game suspension has yet to be made, some of his fellow players have made their opinions on the matter known already. John Wawrow from the Associated Press (and posted on Yahoo! Sports) reported what Terrell Owens had to say:

“Why shouldn’t he? I mean, there’s a lot more guys around the league that have done far more worst things than that and gotten second chances,” Owens said.

Owens said he would welcome Vick as a teammate.

“Michael Vick is a guy that really hasn’t any character issues besides what he got a prison sentence for, so why not?” he said.

Now I’m not about to enter into a diatribe about character issues in the NFL. Owens is right when he says there are people who have done worse in the NFL. Michael Vick was arrested and sentenced for his crime. It seems to me like in a criminal case it should be the legal system to mete out judgment rather than a private organization. However, it’s still the NFL’s decision to do what they want to a member of their company. Continue reading »

T.O.: ‘I’ll be the scapegoat for what happened in Dallas.’

Even though he’s moved on to other pastures, Terrell Owens continues to be asked about what happened that led to his release in Dallas, to which the wide receiver still doesn’t understand.

“(Romo) was the quarterback of the team,” T.O. said during his camp for kids today at Duncanville High School. “I think everybody realized that. It was upon him to adopt that leadership role and carry that out. Obviously, they saw that didn’t happen.

“So, for whatever reason, I’ll be the scapegoat. I’m not here. Now, it’s his team. You know, and I wish him well.”

T.O., who famously cried while defending Romo after the top-seeded Cowboys’ playoff loss to the Giants two years ago, claimed to be confused when asked how the relationship between the quarterback and receiver changed last season.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” T.O. said. “I don’t know what happened. Obviously, somebody is lying somewhere. I don’t know what happened. All I know is that I’m not here. I’m with the Buffalo Bills, and I’ll leave it at that.”

T.O. is right about one thing – he is playing the scapegoat. The Cowboys obviously felt that Romo could lead the team with Owens still on the roster and decided that the best thing to do was to cut bait and move on. But what Owens fails to understand is how big of a negative effect he had in Dallas.

What T.O. sees when he looks back on his days in Dallas (and San Francisco, and Philadelphia for that matter) was all the touchdowns, the stats and the receptions. He blocks out the times where he’s humiliated quarterbacks, offensive coordinators and everyone else when things weren’t going his way. He doesn’t see himself as a malcontent, yet he’s been run out of three cities already and fails to see what everyone else sees.

So yes, he was the scapegoat in Dallas but for good reason – reasons he’ll never fathom.

Ten NFL players facing make or break seasons

Training camp is still a month away but you don’t need daily reports from the grueling two-a-day sessions to see what players are going to have the heat turned up on them this season. I’ve complied a list of 10 players (in no particular order) who, not necessarily the same reasons, face make or break seasons in ’09.

1. Tony Romo, QB, Dallas Cowboys
If Romo doesn’t get the Cowboys to the playoffs in 2009 will Jerry Jones look for other options at quarterback in 2010? No. But if you read between the lines, the Cowboys jettisoned Terrell Owens this offseason so that Romo will have every opportunity to be the team’s most influential leader and hopefully go from being a great quarterback to one of the elite. While it might not technically be a make or break season for Romo, his career is certainly at a crossroads. Romo’s numbers last year were solid – 3,448 yards, 26 TDs, 91.4 QB Rating – but his play faded over the last month of the season and the Cowboys imploded. Since then, Romo’s work ethic, offseason dedication and leadership skills have been questioned and it appears as though the QB’s career has come to a fork in the road. If he continues on the path his currently on, he might put up decent numbers and lead the Cowboys to the playoffs a couple more times before his days are done. That’s certainly not bad, but Jones and the rest of the Cowboy faithful want Romo to be extraordinary and if he completely dedicates himself to the game, maybe he can take this talented team to the next level. One thing’s for sure – with T.O. out of the way, this is now Romo’s team and it’s up to him where he and the Cowboys go from here.

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