Schefter's Take on Owens
(Aug. 27, 2006) -- Football's most defiant player and football's most stubborn coach are engaged in a stare-down more entertaining than any preseason game.
Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens wants his hamstring to heal at its own pace, on its own schedule, without any head coach -- even a future Hall of Fame coach -- barking orders at him about how soon he needs to return to practice.
Cowboys coach Bill Parcells wants his "player" back on the field, practicing with the rest of the team, no questions asked, without anybody standing up to him or sitting on a bike in a Team Discovery outfit to insult him.
And thus, we have riveting preseason theater that now looks like it's going to extend into the regular season. Or at least until Parcells decides that he, like Andy Reid, like Steve Mariucci, has had enough.
T.O. hasn't even stepped on to the field yet this summer, not even for a single play, and already he has created more headlines than any player in football.
His hamstring hurts. Parcells wants his "player" on the field. The "player" comes back, only to re-injure it. The "player" skips team meetings and rehab sessions and incurs a $9,500 fine. On and on, like a stationary bicycle ride in Oxnard, Calif.
These were the types of headlines that everyone expected to come. But nobody expected them this soon.
Conventional wisdom was that T.O. would be on his best behavior this season, thankful for the contract the Cowboys awarded him.
Instead, T.O. has behaved as if he learned nothing from his experience in Philadelphia. As if he is more important than his team. Maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise. Dr. Harry Edwards, who worked with T.O. in San Francisco and knows an athlete's mind better than anyone in sports, predicted that the veteran wide receiver wouldn't be any different whenever he found his next employer. Smart man, Dr. Edwards.
Then when the Broncos visited with T.O. last February, two members of Denver's organization said they didn't get any sense that T.O. had been humbled, that he would be more appreciative if he got another chance.
T.O.'s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, insisted his client would. Dallas believed it. The two stepped to the altar in a pairing every bit as intriguing as Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. So far, the Cowboys tandem is providing more drama than The Breakup.
As much as everyone outside Dallas might be reveling in this, nobody can be enjoying it anymore than Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Nobody can be less surprised than Eagles coach Andy Reid. While the Cowboys summer has turned into a maddening football circus, the Eagles summer has been punctuated with a peaceful easy feeling.
Now, nobody outside Jerry Jones and Rosenhaus believes this can end quietly. Nobody can think we've heard anything close to the last of this story. This is a drama that is going to linger like the discomfort in T.O.'s hamstring.
Eventually, it might get better. But rest assured, in time, it's going to get worse.
Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens wants his hamstring to heal at its own pace, on its own schedule, without any head coach -- even a future Hall of Fame coach -- barking orders at him about how soon he needs to return to practice.
Cowboys coach Bill Parcells wants his "player" back on the field, practicing with the rest of the team, no questions asked, without anybody standing up to him or sitting on a bike in a Team Discovery outfit to insult him.
And thus, we have riveting preseason theater that now looks like it's going to extend into the regular season. Or at least until Parcells decides that he, like Andy Reid, like Steve Mariucci, has had enough.
T.O. hasn't even stepped on to the field yet this summer, not even for a single play, and already he has created more headlines than any player in football.
His hamstring hurts. Parcells wants his "player" on the field. The "player" comes back, only to re-injure it. The "player" skips team meetings and rehab sessions and incurs a $9,500 fine. On and on, like a stationary bicycle ride in Oxnard, Calif.
These were the types of headlines that everyone expected to come. But nobody expected them this soon.
Conventional wisdom was that T.O. would be on his best behavior this season, thankful for the contract the Cowboys awarded him.
Instead, T.O. has behaved as if he learned nothing from his experience in Philadelphia. As if he is more important than his team. Maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise. Dr. Harry Edwards, who worked with T.O. in San Francisco and knows an athlete's mind better than anyone in sports, predicted that the veteran wide receiver wouldn't be any different whenever he found his next employer. Smart man, Dr. Edwards.
Then when the Broncos visited with T.O. last February, two members of Denver's organization said they didn't get any sense that T.O. had been humbled, that he would be more appreciative if he got another chance.
T.O.'s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, insisted his client would. Dallas believed it. The two stepped to the altar in a pairing every bit as intriguing as Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. So far, the Cowboys tandem is providing more drama than The Breakup.
As much as everyone outside Dallas might be reveling in this, nobody can be enjoying it anymore than Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Nobody can be less surprised than Eagles coach Andy Reid. While the Cowboys summer has turned into a maddening football circus, the Eagles summer has been punctuated with a peaceful easy feeling.
Now, nobody outside Jerry Jones and Rosenhaus believes this can end quietly. Nobody can think we've heard anything close to the last of this story. This is a drama that is going to linger like the discomfort in T.O.'s hamstring.
Eventually, it might get better. But rest assured, in time, it's going to get worse.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:11 PM
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