running a go-route Owens who catches the ball in stride and bats away Clements who is trying to strip him instead of making a tackle over the final 25 yards for a touchdown.
West Coast or You Go Deep Because You Got Single Coverage And They Can't Sack Me And I Can Throw It Deep?
Romo says that was a called play. So did Garrett, much to my skepticism.
"Sometimes the play takes longer to develop," Garrett said of Romo buying some time.
And Owens, he just keeps running no matter his quarterback has alligators snapping at him from all sides?
"He just keeps running," Garrett says with a grin.
Alley Ball I'm telling you.
Then there was the 45-yarder over Clements to set up the second of Nick Folk's four field goals. If you paid attention, the Cowboys lined up Tashard Choice in front of Barber in the backfield and sent him in motion left on a wheel route, drawing a linebacker out of underneath coverage, and again Romo hit a streaking Owens down the right sideline in stride. No crossing business in the two-receiver set.
Romo and Owens were hot, or the 49ers were buying into this business about Owens being over the hill, something Phillips took great glee in refuting, saying - with a straight face - "The demise of Terrell Owens has been overly exaggerated," which is close enough to the original to get his point across..
They were not done yet. The Cowboys sent Owens on a seam right, angling away from poor 49ers safety Mark Roman, who should never end up on Owens by himself. Well he did, and when Romo - that guy again - side-stepped the rush, again saving the play with his feet, he had time to again drop one over Owens' head into the bread basket, as they say.
Now that one, Romo smiled, suggesting well, yeah, that might have been a little Alley Ball going on, just kind of ad-libbing on the run with his receiver not giving up on the route.
Five of the seven catches totaled 203 of the 213 yards, and if you listen to Garrett, it wasn't as if Owens slipped some secretly-designed plays under his office door to run Sunday, nor did Romo hold these long, soul-searching powwows with Owens after he sounded off on NFL Network Thursday evening and steadfastly held to his comments on Friday after practice.
In fact, sounds like the most meaningful conversation between the two came in the huddle during the Cowboys' final drive of the game, up 35-22 and trying to salt the game away. At that point, Owens had 199 yards receiving and was, well, kind of anxious to produce just his second 200-yard receiving performance of his career, although knowing he wasn't going to reach his career-high of 283 from the 2000 season.
"Once we got the ball back with three minutes left," Owens said with a big grin about if he had said something to Romo, "I told him, 'I need one more yard.'"
One more?
For 200. He got 14 more yards on his next catch, and departed here late Sunday afternoon all smiles.
Now Owens, who wasn't back-tracking on his televised comments after practice on Friday when he insisted the offense wasn't flexible enough for his liking, said of this day, "They unleashed me today."
Whatever.
Owens got single coverage, and he beat it. Romo was back for his second game after missing those three. The offensive line blocked, and on the one deep throw, Marion Barber picked up the blitz. And, Romo's feet had as much to do with his success as his arm did.
So please, don't get me started about systems and flexibility and what not. You think Garrett doesn't want to win, that he would purposely freeze out his biggest offensive weapon? Or he told Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger in those three games, look, whatever you do, don't throw T.O. the ball?
Hello, anyone home?
Let Owens have his say this day, pointing out, "I told you guys I've been successful everywhere I've been and I've been consistently involved in the offense. When I get my hands on the ball, things happen. It's not a mystery."
And at least to me, it's no mystery how he got his hands on the ball on this
