Wednesday, August 20, 2008

T.O. THINKS HE WAS MISUSED IN PLAYOFF LOSS

Posted by Mike Florio

We’ve been saying for weeks now that, regardless of how the Cowboys perform in the 2008 regular season, an enormous amount of pressure will bubble up if/when the Cowboys prepare for their first playoff game.

They haven’t won a postseason contest since beating the Vikings the night before my soon-to-be-12-year-old was baptized. (I took the Cowboys, gave the points, and doubled his college fund. Just kidding. It was our rainy-day fund.) And with high-profile quarterback Tony Romo being 0-2 in the playoffs and another loss or two away from developing a reputation as a guy who can’t win in January, the focus on the Cowboys as they play that first postseason game will be extreme.

It will now be even more intense, given that receiver Terrell Owens has questioned the team’s strategy in last year’s home loss to the Giants in the divisional round.

T.O. had a sprained ankle, but thinks he was 100 percent. He says that the coaching staff didn’t regard him as 100 percent, and as a result didn’t use him down the field.

“I feel I made the most of the opportunities,” Owens said. “It was just like when I played in the Super Bowl with the [Philadelphia] Eagles, I told the coach if I am on the football field to treat me as if I am 100 percent. I don’t think they [were] considering what I did in the game. . . . I felt like I could have done more.”

Owens caught four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He caught no passes in the second half of the 21-17 loss to the Giants.