Putcha popcorn down. The failed T.O. experiment is over. Finally.
Altogether now: Toldja!
It was way back on March 23, 2006 that I warned:
"Terrell Owens will catch touchdowns, complain about everything and, ultimately, crater the Cowboys' locker room without delivering a Super Bowl."
The end - better late than never - came last night as the Cowboys released the receiver with the rapidly declining skills and the ridiculously inflated ego.
Halla. Loo-yah!
The only justification for Owens' bullshit would've been a Super Bowl. Seeing that Dallas didn't even win one playoff game with him, his three-year stint has to be classified as a colossal failure. A sell-your-soul-to-Beelzebub risk that beared zero reward.
Owens caught 38 touchdowns, but had just as many or more drops along with countless rifts with everything from prescription pills to tardiness, and everyone from Bill Parcells to Todd Haley to Jason Garrett to Tony Romo to Jason Witten. As advertised, he was all about himself and, in the end, absolutely imploded the Cowboys' locker-room chemistry.
Give credit to owner Jerry Jones for cutting his losses. He hates to admit mistakes, but it was obvious that T.O. had deteriorated into a giant N.O.
Even setting aside his detrimental self-aggrandizing and divisive persona, Owens the player was no longer worth the trouble. Or the money.
He once was one of the NFL's most physical and feared receivers. But these days? Just a 35-year-old dude with declining skills and sinking stats. You want a player who can do ab crunches till the cows come home or one who has both the ability and willingness to fight for a ball in traffic? T.O.'s a lousy, lazy route-runner with below-average hands who thinks he's Larry Fitzgerald but in reality is closer to Lance Moore. Who? Exactly.
Last season Owens had 40 yards receiving or less in half of Dallas' 16 games. That's not elite. That's sad.
T.O. lied to us when he said during his opening press conference "I know what's expected of me. I won't let you down" and "I'll be a better teammate, a better person, a better man in life." And honestly, the popcorn got cold before it got eaten. No? Quick, name T.O.'s signature catch as a Cowboy. Betcha a nickel it was a bomb where the ball hit him right between the 8 and the 1.
This final act shouldn't surprise you. Some of us have been screaming for his departure for years and just last month I put his chances of being cut at 68.9 percent. This, Cowboys fans, is a great day.
Why? Because it was impossible to differentiate between who Owens was (an asshole) and what Owens was (an average receiver). Etched on T.O.'s Cowboys tombstone:
Here lies a receiver who would've rather caught 11 passes in a loss than 1 pass in a win.
Sure the Cowboys - with Roy Williams and Miles Austin the top two - need help at receiver. But just like that, Valley Ranch became a better work environment.
The best part? With the departures of Terrell Owens, Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson this off-season ...
Rejoice Dallas! It's again safe to like the Cowboys.
