T.O. fiasco just warming up in Dallas
Posted by Anthony Stalter
It appears that Terrell Owens will be the front and center of news this NFL offseason. In Jennifer Floyd Engel’s latest column for the Dallas Star-Telegram, Keyshawn Johnson and Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Jason Garrett sound off on the “poison pill” that is T.O.
Johnson also noted that current Cardinals and former Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Todd Haley could turn the culture at Valley Ranch.
“You know, Jen, why aren’t you touting Todd Haley for the job?” he asked. “He was the only one with the [guts] to tell Jerry ‘I really want this job but I can’t coach this team with this guy on it. And I don’t think you are going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on it.’ ”
This guy, of course, was Terrell Owens. And he and Haley were not exactly BFFs in their one and only season together as Cowboys under Big Bill.
T.O. vowed to “find the rats” with Haley being his prime suspect and blamed him for failing to use his considerable talent. Haley, a Big Bill disciple in every way, refused to cower and snapped right back which only further enraged perpetually touchy T.O.
Owner Jones did interview Haley, along with almost everybody else, when Bill Parcells left. Of course, Haley did not have a chance, bucking convention and saying what Jerry did not want to hear which is T.O. is the rat.
Now, Haley is the offensive coordinator of a team going to the Super Bowl and T.O. is whining about locker room rats again and how the offensive coordinator is to blame. And a few misguided souls actually believe this self-plagiarized rant with Haley being replaced by Jason Witten and Jason Garrett.
“What is obvious is you can’t keep Jason Garrett, T.O. and the coach,” Johnson said.
And almost as an exclamation point, The Red-headed Genius chimed in from the Senior Bowl where he answered a question about T.O. with a very read-between-the-line-ish “I certainly have a lot of respect for him as a player. And we’ll just leave it at that.”
My guess is JG thinks T.O. is going to be waived. No way his normally cautious self says what he said otherwise. Or else he figured out what Haley did two years ago which is you are not going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on your team. So better to jump from that doomed-to-fail ship.
The key to this entire situation is Jerry Jones. If he feels T.O. really is the cog holding the Cowboys back, then Owens will be jettisoned before next season. But Jones can’t part with Owens’ talent and that’s why everyone around T.O. (Parcells, Haley, etc.) are now elsewhere (and winning might I add).
It seems that Jones takes pride in gathering all of these dysfunctional characters, putting them all under one roof and trying to make it work. But eventually he’s going to have to realize that chemistry trumps talent in most cases and he might have to go more conventional route to build a winner.
It appears that Terrell Owens will be the front and center of news this NFL offseason. In Jennifer Floyd Engel’s latest column for the Dallas Star-Telegram, Keyshawn Johnson and Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Jason Garrett sound off on the “poison pill” that is T.O.
Johnson also noted that current Cardinals and former Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Todd Haley could turn the culture at Valley Ranch.
“You know, Jen, why aren’t you touting Todd Haley for the job?” he asked. “He was the only one with the [guts] to tell Jerry ‘I really want this job but I can’t coach this team with this guy on it. And I don’t think you are going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on it.’ ”
This guy, of course, was Terrell Owens. And he and Haley were not exactly BFFs in their one and only season together as Cowboys under Big Bill.
T.O. vowed to “find the rats” with Haley being his prime suspect and blamed him for failing to use his considerable talent. Haley, a Big Bill disciple in every way, refused to cower and snapped right back which only further enraged perpetually touchy T.O.
Owner Jones did interview Haley, along with almost everybody else, when Bill Parcells left. Of course, Haley did not have a chance, bucking convention and saying what Jerry did not want to hear which is T.O. is the rat.
Now, Haley is the offensive coordinator of a team going to the Super Bowl and T.O. is whining about locker room rats again and how the offensive coordinator is to blame. And a few misguided souls actually believe this self-plagiarized rant with Haley being replaced by Jason Witten and Jason Garrett.
“What is obvious is you can’t keep Jason Garrett, T.O. and the coach,” Johnson said.
And almost as an exclamation point, The Red-headed Genius chimed in from the Senior Bowl where he answered a question about T.O. with a very read-between-the-line-ish “I certainly have a lot of respect for him as a player. And we’ll just leave it at that.”
My guess is JG thinks T.O. is going to be waived. No way his normally cautious self says what he said otherwise. Or else he figured out what Haley did two years ago which is you are not going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on your team. So better to jump from that doomed-to-fail ship.
The key to this entire situation is Jerry Jones. If he feels T.O. really is the cog holding the Cowboys back, then Owens will be jettisoned before next season. But Jones can’t part with Owens’ talent and that’s why everyone around T.O. (Parcells, Haley, etc.) are now elsewhere (and winning might I add).
It seems that Jones takes pride in gathering all of these dysfunctional characters, putting them all under one roof and trying to make it work. But eventually he’s going to have to realize that chemistry trumps talent in most cases and he might have to go more conventional route to build a winner.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:42 PM
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