More To TO Than Meets The Eye
08:06 PM CDT on Thursday, October 5, 2006
IRVING – For those of you who never quite know how to respond when an old friend suffers an accidental overdose, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb has shown the way.
His alleged text message was somehow intercepted before reaching Terrell Owens' cellphone, but it's the thought that counts.
I'm one of the brave souls who made it through T.O.'s book, T.O., in which we discover how this once lethal receiver-quarterback combination came unwound. If you believe what Owens and the Rosenhaus family wrote (and we have absolutely no reason not to), the rift formed when McNabb had the audacity to tell Owens to "shut up" in the huddle.
Even now, we're not sure how Owens recovered from this incident.
But the thing that keeps this player leading Sports Center seemingly every night isn't just about the trouble he's caused. And it's not the fact that he remains one of the most dangerous offensive threats in the game.
That's all part of it, but what keeps up coming back is the fact that he's impossible to figure out. You can write him off as a petulant player who thinks only of himself and you might be partly right.
But he was the first guy on the team to call third-string quarterback Drew Henson when Henson was released. And even when the cameras aren't around, Owens keeps talking to an undrafted wide receiver named Sam Hurd.
"I think he was once in my spot," said Hurd, "and that's why he's never forgotten the little people or the underdogs."
Talk to a few people and you realize that Owens actually surrounds himself with NFL "little people."
Asked which Eagles he expected to hear from this week, Owens rattled off B-listers including Thomas Tapeh, Reno Mahe, Greg Lewis and Rod Hood. The only headliner was Jeremiah Trotter, and he's only three years removed from being in the football wilderness.
In the Cowboys' locker room, Hurd and backup linebacker Kevin Burnett are in Owens' inner circle, with backup quarterback Tony Romo knocking on the door.
"He's a better leader than you guys give him credit for," said Romo, who was sporting a new T-shirt that Owens gave him and several other teammates Thursday. "Anyone who plays with him week in and week out is going to gain respect for him."
Entering Owens' mind is in many ways a futile endeavor, but I'm starting to believe that writing him off as completely selfish is the wrong way to go.
I do think he has trouble sharing the spotlight (see McNabb), and that could explain why he's drawn to the bottom of the roster.
I could never see a scenario in which he'll be close to a starting quarterback. I sat and listened as Owens and Hurd talked about the quarterback-receiver relationship Thursday.
"It's like a girlfriend-boyfriend deal," Hurd said.
Owens then said practice was "like dating."
This analogy began to make me uncomfortable, but I understood where they were going. Owens is a study in contradiction. He demands and is plagued by constantly being in the center ring.
On Sunday, though, he won't have any choice.
IRVING – For those of you who never quite know how to respond when an old friend suffers an accidental overdose, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb has shown the way.
His alleged text message was somehow intercepted before reaching Terrell Owens' cellphone, but it's the thought that counts.
I'm one of the brave souls who made it through T.O.'s book, T.O., in which we discover how this once lethal receiver-quarterback combination came unwound. If you believe what Owens and the Rosenhaus family wrote (and we have absolutely no reason not to), the rift formed when McNabb had the audacity to tell Owens to "shut up" in the huddle.
Even now, we're not sure how Owens recovered from this incident.
But the thing that keeps this player leading Sports Center seemingly every night isn't just about the trouble he's caused. And it's not the fact that he remains one of the most dangerous offensive threats in the game.
That's all part of it, but what keeps up coming back is the fact that he's impossible to figure out. You can write him off as a petulant player who thinks only of himself and you might be partly right.
But he was the first guy on the team to call third-string quarterback Drew Henson when Henson was released. And even when the cameras aren't around, Owens keeps talking to an undrafted wide receiver named Sam Hurd.
"I think he was once in my spot," said Hurd, "and that's why he's never forgotten the little people or the underdogs."
Talk to a few people and you realize that Owens actually surrounds himself with NFL "little people."
Asked which Eagles he expected to hear from this week, Owens rattled off B-listers including Thomas Tapeh, Reno Mahe, Greg Lewis and Rod Hood. The only headliner was Jeremiah Trotter, and he's only three years removed from being in the football wilderness.
In the Cowboys' locker room, Hurd and backup linebacker Kevin Burnett are in Owens' inner circle, with backup quarterback Tony Romo knocking on the door.
"He's a better leader than you guys give him credit for," said Romo, who was sporting a new T-shirt that Owens gave him and several other teammates Thursday. "Anyone who plays with him week in and week out is going to gain respect for him."
Entering Owens' mind is in many ways a futile endeavor, but I'm starting to believe that writing him off as completely selfish is the wrong way to go.
I do think he has trouble sharing the spotlight (see McNabb), and that could explain why he's drawn to the bottom of the roster.
I could never see a scenario in which he'll be close to a starting quarterback. I sat and listened as Owens and Hurd talked about the quarterback-receiver relationship Thursday.
"It's like a girlfriend-boyfriend deal," Hurd said.
Owens then said practice was "like dating."
This analogy began to make me uncomfortable, but I understood where they were going. Owens is a study in contradiction. He demands and is plagued by constantly being in the center ring.
On Sunday, though, he won't have any choice.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:00 PM
<< Home