Comments from named, unnamed cowboys show t.o. Rift

BasX · Mar 7, 2009

Gone but not soon forgotten, receiver Terrell Owens will continue to have an impact on the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room.

The reality is that, while hated by plenty of the folks with whom he has come into contact, Owens also has plenty of friends throughout the league.

And more than a few still on the Dallas roster.

Count running back Marion Barber, whose nose might already be a bit out of joint after owner Jerry Jones questioned his toughness last season (Jones later apologized), among the pro-T.O. crowd.

“I don’t cause controversy, I’m just straightforward,” Barber told Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “[Critics] are trying to make [Owens] into something he’s not. I felt the same way like everybody else, but then I met the man. Once you know who he is, he’s a great guy.”

And Barber seems to believe that, regardless of any conflict that might have arisen regarding Owens, the responsibility should have fallen on others to find a way to resolve the situation.

“I just think during that time, the other fellas have to figure out a way to come together as one and make it work as a whole,” Barber said. “It starts in the locker room with any team. I firmly believe that and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a hold of it. . . .

“On any team, you’re going to have different personalities, and you’re going to have conflict. You have to figure out a way to make it work, regardless of the situation.”

Though Barber was one of Owens’ better friends on the team and thus has an obvious bias, other players liked him, too.

For example, veteran defensive end Greg Ellis is a T.O. fan, and wasn’t afraid to say so in a recent appearance on Sirius NFL Radio’s The Sirius Blitz with Adam Schein and Solomon Wilcots.

“I think it takes more than one person to make it a bad locker room, if you will,” Ellis said. “And I say that because you’ve got to realize you’re dealing with the NFL. You’re not dealing with weak-hearted men. You’re dealing with men that are used to coaches in their face cursing them out, saying a lot of bad things to them, a lot of language that you can’t say on the radio. So you’re used to that type of thing so I just don’t buy into that any football player can verbally or really physically say one thing or do one thing to another football player to divide that football team.

“I just haven’t bought into it when people were saying it when he was on this team, hadn’t bought into it when he was on other teams saying that kind of stuff. I would say this about T.O. T.O. is the type of person who is going to say what’s on his mind and if you really pay attention to it he’s telling the truth. When you really break it down and analyze it he’s telling the truth.”

As a result, Ellis can be counted among the players who think that T.O. should have stayed.

“Do I think it was a good move?” Ellis said of the decision to dump Owens. “I don’t think it was a good move. Yeah, to me I’m disappointed in it. When I see T.O. — and you’ve got to watch people, not necessarily what they say but watch their actions. And, I mean, to me when I seen T.O. that day, that football game in Dallas, on our sideline, Patrick Crayton got the ball and T.O. comes out of nowhere and throws a block.

“That guy wants to play football. That guy cares and wants to win football games. When things aren’t going his way and the ball isn’t coming his way and all that kind of stuff, to me he was just saying, ‘Man, I want to get more balls.’ And I heard him say, ‘When I get my numbers, when I get the numbers, we win football games.’ And that was true.”

So players like Barber and Ellis and others who think like they do will still have to coexist with the players who didn’t like Owens, and who likely will be blamed for running T.O. out of town.

One such player recently spoke on an unnamed basis to Tom Curran of NBCSports.com.

Said the player: “Ding-dong, the &*&%% is dead!”

(We assumed that the missing word is “bitch,” since it fits better than most of the other profanities and/or expletives.)

“This team was one blow up away from complete implosion,” the unnamed player said. “This will help [coach] Wade [Phillips] gain some moderate control of the team since 81 and his ego are gone but it’s a long way from a complete solution. I think it will help the team and I’m excited to be without the T.O. drama for next season.”

But unless every player who likes T.O. and who thinks that he unfairly was made to be the scapegoat for the team’s problems also is cut between now and the launch of offseason workouts, the drama could continue into 2009.

So even though Owens is no longer with the team, it remains appropriate to prepare the popcorn.
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http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/07/comments-from-named-unnamed-cowboys-show-to-rift/

Master Shake · Mar 7, 2009

T.O. for President.

Mamba · Mar 7, 2009

And this is why true contender should try out TO

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Comments from named, unnamed cowboys show t.o. Rift

BasX I Win

Master Shake young phoenix

Mamba The King is Back Staff Member Global Moderator

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Comments from named, unnamed cowboys show t.o. Rift

BasX I Win

Master Shake young phoenix

Mamba The King is Back Staff Member Global Moderator

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