want to talk about it. He knows it's just an excuse no one wants to hear. And he's right, the fans and media; they don't want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to playing with pain.
Actually, Owens said it best on Thursday.
"If it was anybody else gutting it out with the way my hand is, I'm guaranteeing you that they would be probably saying that he's a warrior, he's sucking it up for the team," Owens said. "But just because it's me, that's not going to be case. I understand that."
Think about it. No really, think about that.
True?
If Marvin Harrison was playing with a torn tendon in his finger, don't you think it would be some feel-good story on HBO's Inside the NFL or something like that? Doesn't even have to be Harrison, just anyone but Owens.
I admit, with all of his baggage, it's not easy sifting through some of the (insert your own noun if you'd like) stuff T.O. throws out there on a daily basis.
But if he's legitimately hurt, especially on the part of the body he needs the most to do his job, then it shouldn't just be disregarded so easily.
OK, how 'bout last week against the Eagles. Rookie receiver Miles Austin has a broken left hand, similar to what Owens had earlier this year. So Austin has the hand taped up and he's carrying the ball in his right arm, closest to the defense. Austin gets stripped and fumbles, and the Eagles recover.
Immediately, Austin gets a media pass:
"Well, his left hand is hurt so he has to carry the ball in his right hand and that's why he fumbled."
OK, so why doesn't Owens get that? And don't tell me because he gets paid $25 million. Money has nothing to do with injuries.
All I'm saying is, if the guy has a "jacked-up hand" as he calls it, then don't throw it out of the conversation. We all know if he decided to have the surgery, he'd be called a soft, selfish, can't-play-with-pain type of player who is simply stealing money from the Cowboys.
OK, so now that we've established some sort of injury, that leads us to the drops.
Sure, he drops more than the rest of the guys. He also catches more too. If you get more passes thrown your way, you're going to catch and drop more, right?
Michael Jordan missed more shots than most guys. Why do you think that is?
To me, I have a hard time criticizing a wide receiver who leads the NFL in touchdown catches. Isn't that the goal?
And I understand some of those touchdowns have come late in the game or turned out to be meaningless scores. The opportunities he's had to make game-changing plays haven't always gone his way.
There was the big drop pass against Washington that would've put the Cowboys up by two touchdowns. OK, and even though T.O. blamed the loss on himself, was that really the case? Did Owens lose the game, even though he scored a touchdown and caught seven passes for 76 yards? Seems like there was a missed field goal or something there at the end. But of course, Marc Colombo is a pretty nice guy. So let's just blame Owens.
He dropped a fourth-down pass against the Giants. Yeah, that was a big play. Of course, the Cowboys were still down 12 at the time, late in the third quarter. Owens also caught six for 96 yards and a touchdown in that game, one dominated by the Giants. But then, Owens took his share of blame for that one.
Ask yourself what you'd rather have - a guy who catches about 85 passes for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns, or a guy that catches every one of the passes that goes his way, but yet ends up with about 40 for 500 yards and about three scores. Because you've got that, too. His name is Patrick Crayton.
If you look closely, you'll see that Owens is just too easy of a target to pass up. So everyone takes their shots.
Terence Newman says people to need to stop talking and immediately everyone from ESPN to Jason Witten assume he's referring to Owens. As it turned out, Newman apparently pulled T.O. aside and told him it wasn't him he was referring to after all.
But then again, when in doubt, just blame T.O.
Because if we can blame this whole thing on T.O., then all of you who called him a cancer and a locker-room divider
