Witten trying to leave fuss behind for Cowboys
By Bob Grotz, bgrotz@comcast.net
PHILADELPHIA — Terrell Owens won’t be happy when he finds out Jason Witten did the Dallas Cowboys conference call with media covering the Eagles this week instead of buddy Tony Romo, who was ill with the flu.
Surely it’s another example of the tight Witten-Romo relationship that sent Owens into a jealous rage a couple of weeks ago, the diva wide receiver accusing Romo of favoring Witten in the passing game and the duo of drawing up secret plays.
Like a lot of teams, the Eagles (8-6-1) followed the drama for they endured a jealous Owens fit that divided their team and blew up their 2005 season. Witten, on the conference call, sounded a little like Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb back in the day.
“I really wasn’t sure how I got in the middle of all that mess,” Witten said. “I guess as a quarterback you probably expect it a little bit and it comes with the job. It kind of got blown all out of proportion there with fights and arguments and different things. That happens sometimes. You’ve got a lot of high-profile players and you’ve just got to do the best you can and try to move forward.”
Their playoff chances going down to the wire, the Eagles and the Cowboys will attempt to move forward this weekend.
For the Eagles to reach the playoffs, they must defeat the Cowboys (9-6) and hope at least two other teams win.
The Eagles absolutely need the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-6) to beat the Oakland Raiders (4-11) Sunday. From the Eagles perspective the bad news is the Bucs are 13-point favorites. The good news is the line was 13½ points a few days ago.
To beat the Cowboys, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said the Eagles have to do a better job of defending Owens and Witten.
Owens had all three of his catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the first half of the Cowboys’ 41-37 win over the Birds in the second week of the season.
Witten, who leads the Cowboys in receptions, had a game-high seven catches for 110 yards against the Eagles, the second straight game he’d hit the century mark.
Johnson’s shift in defensive tactics shut Owens down but enabled Romo to find a rhythm with his 6-5, 262-pound bud, one of five Cowboys to make the Pro Bowl.
“He has good size,” Johnson said. “Even though you have people around, he always seems like he comes up with the ball. He knows how to work his body to screen the linebacker or safety off. He and Romo have good timing on that. That’s the biggest thing. You can have good coverage on him and he’ll come up with the catch, just because he’s so big and kind of shields people off.”
The Eagles aren’t proud of the way they’ve given away catches and yardage to the tight ends they’ve played this season.
At the same time, they proudly claim they haven’t been beaten by the tight end, which, judging by the way guys like Witten have hurt them, isn’t entirely true.
“He’s a good player,” Eagles safety Quintin Mikell said. “I mean, he’s going to get his catches and that’s that. The main thing is we can’t let them dink and dink and dink and then hit us with a big play.”
The Eagles got good news Thursday when wide receiver Hank Baskett (sprained MCL), guard Todd Herremans (shoulder, ankle) and running back Brian Westbrook participated in practice, albeit an abbreviated session due to the holiday.
Held out of work were linebacker Stewart Bradley (rib, groin), safety Brian Dawkins (illness), offensive tackle Jon Runyan (knee, ankle) and tight end L.J. Smith (shoulder).
Guard Shawn Andrews (back) and defensive end Victor Abiamiri (foot) are out this week.
NOTES: Digging into their pockets to donate $1,000 to the ALS Foundation was a touching act of selflessness by members of the Eagles’ media relations department, which also this season has helped meet the needs of one courageous sports writer, Larry O’Rourke of the Allentown Morning Call. Happy Holidays to all … The Cowboys won’t have Felix Jones to return a kickoff 98 yards for a score this time around, the running back out for the season with a toe injury. Speaking of toes, running back Marion “The Barbarian” Barber has been a shell of himself since suffering tendon damage to a toe. On the flip side, the Cowboys didn’t have Pro Bowl shutdown cornerback Terence Newman the first time they met.
PHILADELPHIA — Terrell Owens won’t be happy when he finds out Jason Witten did the Dallas Cowboys conference call with media covering the Eagles this week instead of buddy Tony Romo, who was ill with the flu.
Surely it’s another example of the tight Witten-Romo relationship that sent Owens into a jealous rage a couple of weeks ago, the diva wide receiver accusing Romo of favoring Witten in the passing game and the duo of drawing up secret plays.
Like a lot of teams, the Eagles (8-6-1) followed the drama for they endured a jealous Owens fit that divided their team and blew up their 2005 season. Witten, on the conference call, sounded a little like Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb back in the day.
“I really wasn’t sure how I got in the middle of all that mess,” Witten said. “I guess as a quarterback you probably expect it a little bit and it comes with the job. It kind of got blown all out of proportion there with fights and arguments and different things. That happens sometimes. You’ve got a lot of high-profile players and you’ve just got to do the best you can and try to move forward.”
Their playoff chances going down to the wire, the Eagles and the Cowboys will attempt to move forward this weekend.
For the Eagles to reach the playoffs, they must defeat the Cowboys (9-6) and hope at least two other teams win.
The Eagles absolutely need the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-6) to beat the Oakland Raiders (4-11) Sunday. From the Eagles perspective the bad news is the Bucs are 13-point favorites. The good news is the line was 13½ points a few days ago.
To beat the Cowboys, defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said the Eagles have to do a better job of defending Owens and Witten.
Owens had all three of his catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns in the first half of the Cowboys’ 41-37 win over the Birds in the second week of the season.
Witten, who leads the Cowboys in receptions, had a game-high seven catches for 110 yards against the Eagles, the second straight game he’d hit the century mark.
Johnson’s shift in defensive tactics shut Owens down but enabled Romo to find a rhythm with his 6-5, 262-pound bud, one of five Cowboys to make the Pro Bowl.
“He has good size,” Johnson said. “Even though you have people around, he always seems like he comes up with the ball. He knows how to work his body to screen the linebacker or safety off. He and Romo have good timing on that. That’s the biggest thing. You can have good coverage on him and he’ll come up with the catch, just because he’s so big and kind of shields people off.”
The Eagles aren’t proud of the way they’ve given away catches and yardage to the tight ends they’ve played this season.
At the same time, they proudly claim they haven’t been beaten by the tight end, which, judging by the way guys like Witten have hurt them, isn’t entirely true.
“He’s a good player,” Eagles safety Quintin Mikell said. “I mean, he’s going to get his catches and that’s that. The main thing is we can’t let them dink and dink and dink and then hit us with a big play.”
The Eagles got good news Thursday when wide receiver Hank Baskett (sprained MCL), guard Todd Herremans (shoulder, ankle) and running back Brian Westbrook participated in practice, albeit an abbreviated session due to the holiday.
Held out of work were linebacker Stewart Bradley (rib, groin), safety Brian Dawkins (illness), offensive tackle Jon Runyan (knee, ankle) and tight end L.J. Smith (shoulder).
Guard Shawn Andrews (back) and defensive end Victor Abiamiri (foot) are out this week.
NOTES: Digging into their pockets to donate $1,000 to the ALS Foundation was a touching act of selflessness by members of the Eagles’ media relations department, which also this season has helped meet the needs of one courageous sports writer, Larry O’Rourke of the Allentown Morning Call. Happy Holidays to all … The Cowboys won’t have Felix Jones to return a kickoff 98 yards for a score this time around, the running back out for the season with a toe injury. Speaking of toes, running back Marion “The Barbarian” Barber has been a shell of himself since suffering tendon damage to a toe. On the flip side, the Cowboys didn’t have Pro Bowl shutdown cornerback Terence Newman the first time they met.
posted by The Gryphon at 11:37 AM
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