Yet through it all, one name managed to dominate the year in sports news, a man who fell out of favor with fans nationwide more than Rafael Palmeiro, Tyler Hamilton, or even Johnny Damon. I am talking, of course, about Terrell Owens.
Terrell Owens is a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles, and no one will deny that he is one of the game’s most talented players. He’s fast, he’s big, and he has a nose for the ball as good as anyone’s in the NFL. However, he is, has always been, and always will be, forever encompassed by the controversy that comes from an ego the size of the Moon. T.O.’s career started in 1999 for the San Francisco 49ers, and within a year, he had become one of the NFL’s elite receivers. However, he had one too many conflicts with the team, coach Steve Mariucci, and quarterback Jeff Garcia (even going so far at one point as to question Garcia’s sexuality), and following the 2003 season, the Niners traded him to Philly.
Owens signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension which, while a lot of money to you and me, is below market value for a receiver of Owens’ caliber (Indianapolis’ Marvin Harrison received $67 million over seven years around the same time). And as Owens started catching touchdown passes from franchise quarterback Donovan McNabb and Philadelphia began to run away with the NFC East (as always), T.O. and the Eagles seemed like a match made in heaven.
Until.
Owens went down with a severe ankle injury heading into the stretch run, and although the Eagles easily secured the #1 seed in the NFC, T.O. was unable to play in either of Philadelphia’s playoff victories over the Minnesota Vikings or Atlanta Falcons. With the Eagles headed to the Superbowl to try and unseat King Belichick and his Patriots Dynasty, the football world spent two weeks speculating whether or not T.O. would be able to suit up in Jacksonville. Then, in a heroic effort that could have threatened his career, Owens not only started in Superbowl XXXIX, but had a standout performance with nine catches for over 120 yards through the air as his Eagles lost 24-21 to the Patriots, largely thanks to a Donovan McNabb choke that can be described only as Norwoodesque. Heading into the 2005 preseason, Owens caused waves around football by saying he wanted a new contract (one year into his seven-year deal), and that he would refuse to report to Eagles minicamp if he didn’t get paid. The Eagles staunchly refused to restructure, chastising Owens for not honoring his (non-guaranteed) contract. He showed up to camp eventually, but not before alienating many teammates with his holdout.
As the season began, it soon became very clear that the Eagles were not the team they had once been. It wasn’t clear what had changed, but revamped Washington Redskins, New York Giants, and Dallas Cowboys teams, among other things, had brought down Philadelphia’s stranglehold on the NFC East. And as always happens when teams built with star power begin to lose, the clubhouse and the team’s camaraderie began to unravel.
Disgruntled players like linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and runningback Brian Westbrook joined T.O. in asking the Eagles organization for new contracts, pointing to the monster ten-year deal that McNabb had recently received with three years still left on his contract. It doesn’t take a psychic to read their minds – if Donovan McNabb’s lackluster attempt at a two-minute drill in the Superbowl warrants a $100 million deal, the guy who actually played a fantastic game and put his body and career on the line for team (Owens) should certainly get some kind of raise. Then, when Owens was interviewed by ESPN’s Pedro Gómez in early November, he implied that the Eagles would have a much better record with Green Bay’s Brett Favre at the helm instead of McNabb, and all hell broke loose.
At long last, coach Andy Reid and the Eagles decided they’d had enough of Terrell Owens and suspended the receiver indefinitely, ultimately kicking him off the team. He has not seen the playing field since Week 8, and his playing status for the future remains uncertain. He will certainly sign somewhere this off-season, but it’s not clear that he’ll have any kind of long-term security; no one will be champing at the bit to give T.O. a big contract. And finally, just about every major sports news outlet has repeatedly printed articles condemning the exiled receiver; over 70% of sports fans on ESPN.com voted that they would not want Terrell Owens on their team. This brings us to where we are now.
And this is when I leave the beaten path and go where virtually no sports analyst has gone before. This is when I come out in support for the NFL’s most unpopular player.
I firmly believe that Terrell Owens was unfairly scapegoated as a result of the Philadelphia Eagles’ problems in 2005. The fact is, the Eagles never really recovered from their loss to the Patriots in the Superbowl, a loss that was greatly caused by Donovan McNabb. Mounting one last drive at the end of the game, McNabb utterly lost his rhythm and inexplicably chose to slow down his offense rather than go with a no-huddle two-minute drill plan. His ample time on the clock vanished remarkably quickly, and my lasting image of Superbowl XXXIX is that of Rodney Harrison securing a walk-off interception on an awful pass from a Donovan McNabb who, ten-year deal in hand, doesn’t appear to particularly care. Yet the Eagles couldn’t blame McNabb for their problems; on the contrary, they’d never dream of ousting their $100 million poster boy for one bad season. So they waited, and Owens, so consistently willing to cause trouble, presented himself perfectly as their target.
If for no other reason than to show they were doing something, the Eagles brought down the wrath of God (or at least Andy Reid) upon Terrell Owens and turned him from one of the game’s best players into Public Enemy No. 1. The NFL has never been enamored of punks like T.O., so they likely relished the opportunity to not only punish the malcontent receiver but to set a precedent that insulting underperforming high-paying players and making their organization look bad would not be tolerated. I’m not defending Owens’ actions, but I do think he had the bad fortune to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I don’t know if race had anything to do with the T.O. saga, but I do have a suspicion that Peyton Manning might not get much more than a slap on the wrist if he said that the Colts would be better with Shaun Alexander at runningback instead of Edgerrin James.
Terrell Owens is not a nice man. I would not want him over for dinner, I would not like to be his friend, and I would be very distraught if I learned that he was dating my daughter. However, he is one of the best players in the NFL, and with David Givens set to leave New England via free agency, I think he’d look awfully good in the blue and white, teaming with Deion Branch to catch passes from a quarterback who is just about the best there is when the game comes down to one final drive.
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