Larry Felser: Owens just might be worth all of the distractions

[shelby]

After nearly a decade of performing “Pop Goes the Weasel” the Buffalo Bills stunned their fan base and all of pro football Saturday by setting off a mega-explosion.
The team with which the term “impact player” had become nearly extinct signed the player everyone agrees is loaded with impact, both of the negative and positive variety—the man almost everyone had agreed had made himself an untouchable free agent.
This is a sentence I thought I’d never write:
T. O., Terrell Owens, the one-man parade, is now a Buffalo Bill.
Will it upset team chemistry?Who cares? After what the ticket buyers have been watching since the turn of the century, they were tired of team chemistry that remained as placid as instant pudding.
Will Owens make coaching life difficult for Dick Jauron? Maybe Jauron needs a more difficult coaching life. It wouldn’t be such a bad idea if T. O. screamed at the skipper when he goes into his Hamlet number instead of throwing his red-challenge flag.
For that matter, the Bills’ blockers could use something that would make them angry at someone.
Could it turn out that Owens is so difficult Bills’ management will send him home to contemplate the inside of a doughnut and perform calisthenics in his driveway, just as the Philadelphia Eagles once did? To quote Dick Cheney, “So?” The Bills could have sent three-quarters of their team home to stay for the last two months of the 2008 season and it would have been a relief.
Now let’s look at the bright side. No matter what Owens does here, positive or zany, owner Ralph Wilson won’t react like Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, Jeffrey Lurie of Philadelphia or Denise DeBartolo York of the 49ers did to his antics. Ralph is 90. He’ll be 91 next October. He has seen it all, good, bad or indifferent. He will take Owens with a grain of salt or a belly laugh. Besides, at 90 a good nap will fix just about anything.


:rofl:

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/billsnfl/story/600819.html

[ddaryl]

this was a desperate move by a desperate team who came to terms with a desperate player. A perfect match.

There are pros and cons to signing Owens... but lets face it, as Bills fans we are desperate for some winning football, and if Owens opens up our O enough and we actualy win a few AFC East games most of us will be very happy...

This is what being a Bills fan has done to me, last year I owuld have never even considered such a move, but after last season something inside me snapped. After 10+ years of pathetic football, I've given up my "football" morals and really just want to bring in anyone who makes us a competitor / playoff worthy team.

[X-Era]

this was a desperate move by a desperate team who came to terms with a desperate player. A perfect match.

There are pros and cons to signing Owens... but lets face it, as Bills fans we are desperate for some winning football, and if Owens opens up our O enough and we actualy win a few AFC East games most of us will be very happy...

This is what being a Bills fan has done to me, last year I owuld have never even considered such a move, but after last season something inside me snapped. After 10+ years of pathetic football, I've given up my "football" morals and really just want to bring in anyone who makes us a competitor / playoff worthy team.

I have to think about what Buffalo brings to TO.

I mean we are known for being a nice town, with a nice head coach, and nice players now.

Maybe TO will adapt to his surroundings.

He just came from big D where everyone has a big mouth. That team has constant media pressure that he just wont see here.

TO will be protected from the glitz, glamour, media attention, and attitudes of the big city and a big city team.

Instead, hes gonna be surrounded with nice, decent, quality people and that may just rub off.

[ddaryl]

Edwardsera... I've been thinking that their is a chance that a small market team like Buffalo may be just what the Dr. ordered for T.O., although I'm not fooling myself to believing that 100% either.

he has always chased the larger markets, but if by chance Ownes has success here, re-ups, sings the praises of playing for a small market and how it helped him then maybe the future of NFL FA will be that all the big time players want to find their own small market to play for, and we'll have ushered in a whole new era of football that faovrs small markets

LOL!, BUT EVEN i DON'T BELIEVE THE STUFF I POST

[X-Era]

Edwardsera... I've been thinking that their is a chance that a small market team like Buffalo may be just what the Dr. ordered for T.O., although I'm not fooling myself to believing that 100% either.

he has always chased the larger markets, but if by chance Ownes has success here, re-ups, sings the praises of playing for a small market and how it helped him then maybe the future of NFL FA will be that all the big time players want to find their own small market to play for, and we'll have ushered in a whole new era of football that faovrs small markets

LOL!, BUT EVEN i DON'T BELIEVE THE STUFF I POST

Believe me, Im not 100% convinced it will work either. But I can see a path where it could work, and I think there is a distinct possibility.

[Jan Reimers]

LOL!, BUT EVEN i DON'T BELIEVE THE STUFF I POST
Now you tell me, after taking your word as gospel all this time!:band:

[Saratoga Slim]

If you asked me on Friday, I would have said no F'in way should we sign TO. But I'm warming up to the idea, I actually think it was a good move. As a million other people have said already, one year contract, he's usually fairly good in his first year, can't afford to screw up this time or he'll have no opportunity next, etc. etc. etc.

I think there are also a couple other items that might make this work. First, at this point EVERYONE knows exactly what is coming. Donovan McNabb invited TO into his home, tried to be his friend, and generally tried to treat TO like a normal person. No one is going to make that mistake this time. I think that when TO arrives here, the players are going to fully expect annoying antics, be mentally prepared to deal with it, and therefore be less likely to get thrown out of rhythm when he inevitably blows up. He's going to be treated as an idiot savant--a circus actor that can perform great music on the field, but that no one needs to take seriously off it.

Also, the Bills have been drafting and signing "high character" fellas since Marv arrived. This locker room is stocked with guys that perform without fanfare, toe the company line and generally put the team first. That ethic should help here - it's a much different one than in Dallas. I just don't see TO creating big divisions in the lockerroom the way he supposedly did in Dallas.

Finally, TO is going to get the attention he wants by virtue of the fact that we don't have any personalities on this team. He's not going to have to pull antics to get the camera, as he just became the most identifiable person in Buffalo sports. That wasn't the case in Dallas, where he had to compete with Romo and their other celebrity superstars, in in Philly, where McNabb was the face of the franchise. Here, every move he makes will already be a headline, and hopefully that precludes him from having to create drama to earn headlines.

Just my two cents. As I said, I'm approaching this with some trepidation. But the bottom line is that if it doesn't work, he's out the door along with Juaron, Turk & Fewell at the end of the season. If it works ON the field, but not off it, he'll be gone next season and we'll have had another year to identify/groom other weapons for 2010. If he surprises everybody and it works both ON and OFF the field, we'll resign him for another year or two.

It's starting to make sense to me.

[shelby]

Really....what do the Bills have to lose?

[Michael82]

Really....what do the Bills have to lose?
Exactly!

[X-Era]

If you asked me on Friday, I would have said no F'in way should we sign TO. But I'm warming up to the idea, I actually think it was a good move. As a million other people have said already, one year contract, he's usually fairly good in his first year, can't afford to screw up this time or he'll have no opportunity next, etc. etc. etc.

I think there are also a couple other items that might make this work. First, at this point EVERYONE knows exactly what is coming. Donovan McNabb invited TO into his home, tried to be his friend, and generally tried to treat TO like a normal person. No one is going to make that mistake this time. I think that when TO arrives here, the players are going to fully expect annoying antics, be mentally prepared to deal with it, and therefore be less likely to get thrown out of rhythm when he inevitably blows up. He's going to be treated as an idiot savant--a circus actor that can perform great music on the field, but that no one needs to take seriously off it.

Also, the Bills have been drafting and signing "high character" fellas since Marv arrived. This locker room is stocked with guys that perform without fanfare, toe the company line and generally put the team first. That ethic should help here - it's a much different one than in Dallas. I just don't see TO creating big divisions in the lockerroom the way he supposedly did in Dallas.

Finally, TO is going to get the attention he wants by virtue of the fact that we don't have any personalities on this team. He's not going to have to pull antics to get the camera, as he just became the most identifiable person in Buffalo sports. That wasn't the case in Dallas, where he had to compete with Romo and their other celebrity superstars, in in Philly, where McNabb was the face of the franchise. Here, every move he makes will already be a headline, and hopefully that precludes him from having to create drama to earn headlines.

Just my two cents. As I said, I'm approaching this with some trepidation. But the bottom line is that if it doesn't work, he's out the door along with Juaron, Turk & Fewell at the end of the season. If it works ON the field, but not off it, he'll be gone next season and we'll have had another year to identify/groom other weapons for 2010. If he surprises everybody and it works both ON and OFF the field, we'll resign him for another year or two.

It's starting to make sense to me.

Our same old method hasnt worked for years now.

NE traded for Randy Moss and he has been SILENT!

Now, they are a perennial playoff team with a shot at the SB every year and that will quiet someone who just wants to win... that may not be the situation here.

But just because TO was a loud mouth in loud-mout-ville (Dallas) doesnt mean he can be quiet guy in quiet guy-ville (Buffalo).

[X-Era]

"But the bottom line is that if it doesn't work, he's out the door along with Juaron, Turk & Fewell at the end of the season. If it works ON the field, but not off it, he'll be gone next season and we'll have had another year to identify/groom other weapons for 2010. If he surprises everybody and it works both ON and OFF the field, we'll resign him for another year or two."

The most poingnant comment Ive seen so far.

Even if he blasts Jauron and the coaches for screwing up, all it will do is make it even more apparent that they need to be gone, which may be whats needed anyway.

Maybe he adds attitude, even a hard minded attitude that we havent had since Kelly. Thats was one of the things I wanted from JP (BUT HE NEVER HAD THE GAME TO DO THE TALKING). Thats the key as to why it may work in our favor with TO.

Yes, i like adding the swagger.

Even if TO is trashing us, we probably deserve it.