It seems to be the fad of late to blame someone for the Cowboys woes in 2008, and this fine Pro Bowl weekend is no exception. A report by Jason Cole at YahooSports.com reveals that while the hustle and bustle of the Pro Bowl is under way, the Cowboys Owner/President/GM is meeting with several of his offensive players to discuss none other than … Terrell Owens.
According to his report, Jones is discussing issues that some players are having with Owens. These players are claiming that Owens is refusing to communicate with his offensive teammates in the locker room, in the huddle, or otherwise.
From this, and recent TMZ photos, we can see that the fad is still going strong. Owens was caught at a Las Vegas nightclub with fellow offensive teammates Patrick Crayton and Marion Barber recently, so apparently his new found refusal to talk to his offensive teammates is selective.
The idea of Terrell Owens being at the center of a team’s controversy is nothing new, and some believe that because of his role in similar situations before he arrived in Dallas, that he is automatically to blame for what is happening here. Still others think that his baggage is being used to make him the easy target. It’s a fine line to walk between being hated and being loved, but Owens seems to be getting help from a select few that want to brand him as the fall of the Cowboys in 2008.
I’m not buying into the hype though. Jerry Jones may very well be meeting with players as Jason Cole suggests, but it proves more that Owens isn’t the problem in the Big D. Citing yet another “source”, Cole writes, “‘I really believe that Jerry is going to get the message from people that Owens just can’t work there,’ one of the sources said. ‘It’s just a bad, bad situation.’”
Seems to me that it’s already pretty easy to pass the blame to another in sports, what with the hounds in the media ready for the next juicy scoop, but it’s even easier to do it when you won’t introduce yourself as the source.
But I, for one, am hoping that these sources who anonymously try to destroy this team are found out soon, because they’re the real cancer of this team. Some would have you believe that it’s Tony Romo or Jason Witten, or even Jason Garrett, but whoever it is … they are indeed the cancer that is eating away at this team’s chance for glory.
The media though, they aren’t much better. And what really surprises me is that while they hunt for that next big scoop on the Cowboys controversy, none of them are willing to give up a source and land the biggest controversy for the Cowboys in this decade. Too bad … a classy reporter would end this charade. A classy reporter wouldn’t have gotten involved in it to begin with.
I totally agree, I have long felt that it is not the actual things that Owens says or does that cause all of the distractions, it is the constant harping on the matter from the media that causes problems. I firmly believe things can occur in a locker room one day and be fine the next, but when “sources” start informing the media about it and then the players are forced to answer questions about said incident over and over, then it becomes a problem. If people can remeber, this is what Owens was upset with Haley over when he was here. Owens did something, was punished and thought it would stay in-house but somehow it gets leaked to the media and all hell breaks loose.
Find these so-called “SOURCES” and remove them from the locker room and team and I think things can begin to heal and team unity can once again be accomplished….
That, and no matter how you look at it, Garrett did struggle to use the offensive weapons on this team in 2008, which affected Owens’ stats as well. Even if he has lost a step, which I think he has, he is still running fly routes on every play just about, and he gets a little open more times than not. That has to do a lot with Romo this year, his affected play after the injury and the backups too, that his ability to get a step on the coverage wasn’t taken advantage of more.
No matter how you look at it, Owens, no matter what he does, even if it’s a good deed, the media will always find a way to make him look bad. I am guessing that is why some people want him gone for the 09′ season, or at least most. Yeah he might have “lost a step” but if you take a gander at his stats, he is still a pretty damn good receiver in the league, and his stats would have been better if we had a decent backup qb truthfully but that’s another story. It’s just his extra baggage that will be his downfall. I guarantee if T.O. doesn’t come back for next year, these so called “sources” will magically disappear. T.O. has to many haters and to few believers.
Williams getting a full off-season with the first team will make a big difference, and people who keep saying what a bust he was … just wait until next year before making the determination of how valuable he is and will be to this team. Hell, reports right now indicate that is more likely to be our 1st receiver than I hope.
That’s something I almost mentioned in my last comment, that Garrett ran the same offense two years in a row, the first was pretty nice and the second sucked. What it tells me is that Sparano made such an impact with his play calling, that Garrett tried to keep his plays in place, but without Sparano’s help in making adjustments, Garrett fell short of making work.
It seemed like Garrett didn’t understand what Sparano did as much as he needed to, and when time came for adjustments to be made without Sparano to help him, his lack of understanding of those plays showed.
Yeah true I read/watched something not to long ago about why Garrett was struggling and it made some what sense to me. Was talking about Sparano leaving for Big Tuna down in Miami and how Garrett relied on him a little to kinda help him through his plays, and that this year he was just trying to settle in to his own. Also went on to say that next year he will work things out and rebound back, which I believe will be the case too. Also will be good to get R. E. Williams in training camp use to Romo/Garrett a little better.
Yeah but that dumbass Micheals keeps bringing up the SB and how every single call in that was correct, just like he said during the SB. I can barely stand to hear the guy anyway, and I’ve got the Pro Bowl muted most of the time.
That was a heck of a catch by Fitz for the TD though, and makes you really wonder what would have happened if that fumble had been reviewed …
Yup Yup, also Williams came in the same time Romo was out with his injury, so they had that much less of time to get in-sync with each other. But like I said before I think they might shock us all next year, only time will tell.
Watching the Pro Bowl and there all talking about R. Lewis would be good in big D, so who knows, maybe big headed JJ will try to work something out with him, that’d be interesting to see.
What a fuckstick … I hate that guy. I’d rather Collinsworth call the game with Madden.
But on a brighter note, here goes Fitz again.
Did you hear Collinsworth’s comments about the Cowboys? Yeah right.
And then they just got Witten pulled aside and asked the same old crap. I still think Witten is too caught up on saying the right things, and ends up saying things that the rest of his team proves wrong. Nice to see a true team player though. Witten is great.
Haha yeah I have noticed that too, he said the same thing, “What if…”. But then had to reassure himself that it was by saying like a minute later, “They got it right”… Yeah… OK
I dunno about the Madden thing, I can’t stand that guy’s voice, esp. during MNF bahh. And yeah only thing that kinda through me off with Witten’s interview was when asked what needed to happen next season he said “Nothing”, or “No change”. Something like that, that kinda through me for a loop cuz they obviously need something to change, we don’t want the same season as last.
Well he doesn’t either, but yeah, I think he was being overly optimistic about the reason the team failed this year, or last year as it now is. He said no changes needed to be made and then turned around and said the team needs to execute better, which has been his answer all season, which is true.
I would just be happier if even he would acknowledge that changes are needed to make the team execute better. he just gives the impression that things aren’t that bad, and to a very extended degree they are that bad.
I want more players owning up to it, the 2008 failure, I want more accountability without all the blame.