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this wasn't written by me, but I agree with it 100%. credit to balldog from the official bills forums.
Pros: TO works & practices harder than anyone. He is a good teammate who helps others. When Tashard Choice (a running back!) scored his first touchdown, for example, of all of the players and coaches he could have acknowledged, he pointed at TO out of appreciation for his help and advice. Most players agree with TO when differences of opinion come up. (I’ll get to those who don’t in a minute.) He was still the fastest Cowboy – having proven that during match races in training camp. His size, speed, strength, and amazing ability to catch poorly-placed balls (even one-handed behind his back) make him a constant threat. He knows football, is hugely motivated to win games, and is an outstanding blocker (and tackler when necessary). His talent, physique, Hollywood looks, record, reputation, star power, quick wit in front of the camera (in spite of the fact that he’s a lousy actor), and easy manner in public make him a crowd favorite and media magnet. He sells team merchandise and generates online clicks like nobody else. He is not an off-field party animal, does not get drunk, do drugs, engage in public brawls, shoot himself in the leg, shoot at people in alleyways, break other players noses during practice, or in any other way break the law.
Cons: Windows Vista and Betamax lost market share largely because of misconceptions among consumers armed with “common knowledge.” TO suffers from the same thing, but some of it is the fault of his straightforward personality. Like many people, TO gets along fine and is comfortable when things are going well. But when his teams lose and don’t play well, his competitive nature, football knowledge, and direct personality cause him to yell at his teammates (usually behind closed locker room doors), which many people call leadership. Another thing that sets him off is when he is attacked – such as when McNabb publically insulted him when he broke his leg prior to the super bowl (“We don’t need TO to win.”) When several Cowboy receivers went in individually and complained to OC Jason Garret about the play calling, Garrett fumed and blamed it on TO, and let it out to the public that if TO didn’t leave the team, he would. When TO thought Romo was too lackadaisical at practice and too uncaring about losses (Romo: “It is what it is; you win some, you lose some; but in the long run, it’s just a game.”), he, in the locker room, balled him out (as did Troy Aikman) and told Romo he should date pretty girls and go with them to Cabo after his football career was over. Romo and best pal, Witten, who were mere stars who didn’t like being in a superstar’s shadow, took it personally and, suddenly, BSPN had “sources” that said TO was causing problems in the locker room. Reacting immaturely to their immature and unfair animosity, TO said the two were “drawing up pass plays for Witten in order to ignore TO.” It wasn’t until the Pro Bowl that the world learned Witten was BSPN’s “source”, because when an article said a Cowboy “source at the Pro Bowl” said TO was a cancer to the team, the press quickly realized the other 2 Cowboys at the Bowl had publically defended TO – which exposed Witten as the real “source” of division. Jerry Jones, frustrated by the growing hysteria of people jumping on the common-knowledge-fed bandwagon to assassinate TO’s reputation as a good teammate, tried to defend TO by making public statements and by issuing a gag order to his coaches (read: Garrett). Did TO try to commit suicide by overdosing? No: he had one of those fine-print vicious side-effects to a prescription drug, spent an hour in the hospital (to get a shot to counter the effects), and went home to false headlines about a suicidal maniac. He never said he had “25 million reasons to live”: a woman on his staff did – and she was released. When “sources” said veteran Cowboys were beating a path to Jerry Jones’ home to complain about TO’s “ruining team chemistry”, and that “inside scoop” became “public knowledge” (like Vista and Betamax), Jones, exasperatedly in a press conference brought it up on his own and said no players – at all – had come to his home. “There’s just not a shred of truth to it”, he kept saying. But it was too late; public opinion – even misinformed public opinion – is a destructive monster in this era of technology when anybody can type what he “thinks” in an online forum. Cowboy forum moderators did their best to separate the facts about TO from the wildly-escalating vicious rumors and “sources within the Cowboy’s locker room”. But their efforts were swamped by posters who said…well, I get wearied and disgusted thinking about some of the stuff they said – stuff that was made “fact” by common knowledge.
TO even has the strength to listen to a BSPN reporter ask questions and – on national TV – shun him by politely saying, “Next question”…something for which he drew high praise from his teammates. But that kind of backbone irks the media to no end. And those writers react with silly animosity by writing articles filled with childish nonsense. For example, when the Bills signed TO, one reporter wrote an article saying that when TO was interviewed in Toronto, he (the reporter) said the best words to describe what would happen by the limelight-hogging TO were “international incident.” This, of course, was written to feed the irrational knuckle-draggers who thought TO “just wanted to drag the Cowboys down ever since he stomped on the Texas stadium star as a 49er…that’s the only reason he became a Cowboy!” Ask yourselves, Bills fans, what dastardly deed will TO do in Toronto that’ll qualify as an international incident? If he were to do something like that it would not only be out of character, it would be the first time he’s ever done something like that.
A sad fact of life is human jealousy. Whenever a superstar, whether it be a Gen. Douglas MacArthur (intellectual superiority – the greatest combat general of the modern era who was hated by jealous admirals and generals), a Lord Admiral Nelson – the greatest fighting sailor in all of history (who was, admittedly a scoundrel in his private life), or a Terrell Owens (physical & athletic superiority – he won the MVP trophy the last 2 years in the NBA’s celebrity basketball game), comes on the scene, he is sure to garner the jealous hatred and public and private animosity of a certain percentage of those within his area of expertise (McNabb, Witten, Romo, Garrett) as well as the common masses whose only “source” of information is “common knowledge.” TO has long been plagued by this common tendency among the masses to topple those who tower over them. We do, after all, live in a democracy in which all men are supposedly created equal. Therefore, MacArthurs, Nelsons, and Owens all have trials and frustrations they will encounter in life simply because God endowed them with talents the rest of us do not have and can never equal.
Ultimately Jerry Jones had to decide between keeping Garrett, Romo, and Witten…or keeping TO. He was torn between what he knew to be true, and what he knew to be best for his team. TO was axed because others on the team could secretly, cowardly stab him in the back, but he couldn’t stoop to the same thing so he confronted them to their faces. He was simply reacting in his own immature way to the immaturity, cowardness, and lack of the high degree of motivation and professionalism in others that he demands of himself.
B-lo fans: Do not gang up on TO. His Creator did not give him great social understanding and strength. TO will, like most of us mortals, resent it when he is attacked and slandered. He will be frustrated and will not react in the above-the-fray manner that public relations experts would prefer. You have hired a gifted athlete, not a relationships counselor. So, give this ageing superstar full support. Ageing? Yes. Let’s look at how the Dallas Cowboy’s coaching staff failed to recognize his age…and thereby failed to focus on his strengths.
Like many athletes his age, TO lacks the ability to jink like a Walter Payton and a Gayle Sayers. He is still very fast, but his ability to cut on a dime and give you change has diminished. Do not throw to him on the sideline 2 yards down the field and expect him to turn it into a big gain – he’ll just be shoved out of bounds before he can successfully fake the other guy out of his jockstrap. TO needs a head of steam. Get the ball to him on the run – not on a buttonhook. When he is underway with speed and catches the ball he is most dangerous. You have seen him shed would-be tacklers in just those situations on the highlights videos on this website. Do not give him the ball behind the line of scrimmage on a double reverse like Garrett did – TO is no longer the young jinker he used to be. Recognize his strengths and utilize them. He is unparalleled at drawing double-team coverage, so you should be able to get the ball to Lee Evans and watch him do some of the jinking you’ll no longer see TO do.
He does not “drop the ball”, as is commonly thought. You’ll be amazed at some of his catches, but when Romo underthrows him and he reaches back in vain to gather it in, well, there’s another “dropped pass”. Look up the drop stats for Randy Moss; he’s almost at the top of the AFC. Why? Because those who have more balls thrown to them are going to catch more and drop more than those who have fewer balls thrown to them. It’s a simple matter of percentages. So don’t be swept up by misinformed “common knowledge.” And when the TV zooms in on TO “angrily ranting” on the sidelines realize two things: 1) As Coach Jauron said, every sideline in every game has the same thing go on. 2) You’ll see, if you pay attention, that often TO isn’t “ranting” – he’s urging his team on, like you’d hope every other player is doing.
TO is a good teammate and an outstanding wide receiver who will be a big asset to your team if you use him correctly. But he isn’t a tower of mature, emotional strength; he tends to wear his feelings on his sleeves and speak exactly what he thinks. So expect to be disappointed in that area – an area you really shouldn’t care much about. He’s a Gen. Patton, and, like Patton, will sometimes embarrass you with his mouth – but not with his play. Patton, too, was a “locker-room cancer” because he slapped soldiers he believed were slackers. The press got wind of it and crucified Patton, who also wasn’t very mature when it came to handling criticism. Gen. Eisenhower and Jerry Jones weren’t like Lincoln, who responded to the jealous outrage about the whiskey-drinking Gen. Grant with the famous in-your-face retort, “Find out what brand he drinks so I can send a case of it to all of my generals.” – Eisenhower and Jones fired their Grants.
Getcha popcorn ready for an enjoyable season. And please don’t get sucked in by “common knowledge”, don’t expect your Buffalo Bills superstar to patiently and maturely suffer fools gladly, and don’t lose sight of the fact that modern technology has made a large part of the “fun” of pro football the fact that we can all mindlessly and viciously badmouth people we’ve never met. For example, I’ve already read one anonymous poster say TO signed for one year with the Bills just because he wants other wealthier teams with true playoff potential to see the “locker room cancer” stories are false and sign him up as a free agent at a price the Bills can’t afford to match. I read it! So it’s got to be true! What a selfish ball player! Facts mean nothing today; public perception is everything.
This is by me...I would just like to point out that most the players on the Cowboys have said that they liked T.O, and the ones who haven't have not said anything at all. Most of the fans from Dallas that I have heard talk on forums and such, say that they will miss T.O, and think that he was a scapegoat for there bad season.
The real telling part is even though Jerry Jones had to cut him, he still said positive things to say about him. He didn't have to, but he did.
Pros: TO works & practices harder than anyone. He is a good teammate who helps others. When Tashard Choice (a running back!) scored his first touchdown, for example, of all of the players and coaches he could have acknowledged, he pointed at TO out of appreciation for his help and advice. Most players agree with TO when differences of opinion come up. (I’ll get to those who don’t in a minute.) He was still the fastest Cowboy – having proven that during match races in training camp. His size, speed, strength, and amazing ability to catch poorly-placed balls (even one-handed behind his back) make him a constant threat. He knows football, is hugely motivated to win games, and is an outstanding blocker (and tackler when necessary). His talent, physique, Hollywood looks, record, reputation, star power, quick wit in front of the camera (in spite of the fact that he’s a lousy actor), and easy manner in public make him a crowd favorite and media magnet. He sells team merchandise and generates online clicks like nobody else. He is not an off-field party animal, does not get drunk, do drugs, engage in public brawls, shoot himself in the leg, shoot at people in alleyways, break other players noses during practice, or in any other way break the law.
Cons: Windows Vista and Betamax lost market share largely because of misconceptions among consumers armed with “common knowledge.” TO suffers from the same thing, but some of it is the fault of his straightforward personality. Like many people, TO gets along fine and is comfortable when things are going well. But when his teams lose and don’t play well, his competitive nature, football knowledge, and direct personality cause him to yell at his teammates (usually behind closed locker room doors), which many people call leadership. Another thing that sets him off is when he is attacked – such as when McNabb publically insulted him when he broke his leg prior to the super bowl (“We don’t need TO to win.”) When several Cowboy receivers went in individually and complained to OC Jason Garret about the play calling, Garrett fumed and blamed it on TO, and let it out to the public that if TO didn’t leave the team, he would. When TO thought Romo was too lackadaisical at practice and too uncaring about losses (Romo: “It is what it is; you win some, you lose some; but in the long run, it’s just a game.”), he, in the locker room, balled him out (as did Troy Aikman) and told Romo he should date pretty girls and go with them to Cabo after his football career was over. Romo and best pal, Witten, who were mere stars who didn’t like being in a superstar’s shadow, took it personally and, suddenly, BSPN had “sources” that said TO was causing problems in the locker room. Reacting immaturely to their immature and unfair animosity, TO said the two were “drawing up pass plays for Witten in order to ignore TO.” It wasn’t until the Pro Bowl that the world learned Witten was BSPN’s “source”, because when an article said a Cowboy “source at the Pro Bowl” said TO was a cancer to the team, the press quickly realized the other 2 Cowboys at the Bowl had publically defended TO – which exposed Witten as the real “source” of division. Jerry Jones, frustrated by the growing hysteria of people jumping on the common-knowledge-fed bandwagon to assassinate TO’s reputation as a good teammate, tried to defend TO by making public statements and by issuing a gag order to his coaches (read: Garrett). Did TO try to commit suicide by overdosing? No: he had one of those fine-print vicious side-effects to a prescription drug, spent an hour in the hospital (to get a shot to counter the effects), and went home to false headlines about a suicidal maniac. He never said he had “25 million reasons to live”: a woman on his staff did – and she was released. When “sources” said veteran Cowboys were beating a path to Jerry Jones’ home to complain about TO’s “ruining team chemistry”, and that “inside scoop” became “public knowledge” (like Vista and Betamax), Jones, exasperatedly in a press conference brought it up on his own and said no players – at all – had come to his home. “There’s just not a shred of truth to it”, he kept saying. But it was too late; public opinion – even misinformed public opinion – is a destructive monster in this era of technology when anybody can type what he “thinks” in an online forum. Cowboy forum moderators did their best to separate the facts about TO from the wildly-escalating vicious rumors and “sources within the Cowboy’s locker room”. But their efforts were swamped by posters who said…well, I get wearied and disgusted thinking about some of the stuff they said – stuff that was made “fact” by common knowledge.
TO even has the strength to listen to a BSPN reporter ask questions and – on national TV – shun him by politely saying, “Next question”…something for which he drew high praise from his teammates. But that kind of backbone irks the media to no end. And those writers react with silly animosity by writing articles filled with childish nonsense. For example, when the Bills signed TO, one reporter wrote an article saying that when TO was interviewed in Toronto, he (the reporter) said the best words to describe what would happen by the limelight-hogging TO were “international incident.” This, of course, was written to feed the irrational knuckle-draggers who thought TO “just wanted to drag the Cowboys down ever since he stomped on the Texas stadium star as a 49er…that’s the only reason he became a Cowboy!” Ask yourselves, Bills fans, what dastardly deed will TO do in Toronto that’ll qualify as an international incident? If he were to do something like that it would not only be out of character, it would be the first time he’s ever done something like that.
A sad fact of life is human jealousy. Whenever a superstar, whether it be a Gen. Douglas MacArthur (intellectual superiority – the greatest combat general of the modern era who was hated by jealous admirals and generals), a Lord Admiral Nelson – the greatest fighting sailor in all of history (who was, admittedly a scoundrel in his private life), or a Terrell Owens (physical & athletic superiority – he won the MVP trophy the last 2 years in the NBA’s celebrity basketball game), comes on the scene, he is sure to garner the jealous hatred and public and private animosity of a certain percentage of those within his area of expertise (McNabb, Witten, Romo, Garrett) as well as the common masses whose only “source” of information is “common knowledge.” TO has long been plagued by this common tendency among the masses to topple those who tower over them. We do, after all, live in a democracy in which all men are supposedly created equal. Therefore, MacArthurs, Nelsons, and Owens all have trials and frustrations they will encounter in life simply because God endowed them with talents the rest of us do not have and can never equal.
Ultimately Jerry Jones had to decide between keeping Garrett, Romo, and Witten…or keeping TO. He was torn between what he knew to be true, and what he knew to be best for his team. TO was axed because others on the team could secretly, cowardly stab him in the back, but he couldn’t stoop to the same thing so he confronted them to their faces. He was simply reacting in his own immature way to the immaturity, cowardness, and lack of the high degree of motivation and professionalism in others that he demands of himself.
B-lo fans: Do not gang up on TO. His Creator did not give him great social understanding and strength. TO will, like most of us mortals, resent it when he is attacked and slandered. He will be frustrated and will not react in the above-the-fray manner that public relations experts would prefer. You have hired a gifted athlete, not a relationships counselor. So, give this ageing superstar full support. Ageing? Yes. Let’s look at how the Dallas Cowboy’s coaching staff failed to recognize his age…and thereby failed to focus on his strengths.
Like many athletes his age, TO lacks the ability to jink like a Walter Payton and a Gayle Sayers. He is still very fast, but his ability to cut on a dime and give you change has diminished. Do not throw to him on the sideline 2 yards down the field and expect him to turn it into a big gain – he’ll just be shoved out of bounds before he can successfully fake the other guy out of his jockstrap. TO needs a head of steam. Get the ball to him on the run – not on a buttonhook. When he is underway with speed and catches the ball he is most dangerous. You have seen him shed would-be tacklers in just those situations on the highlights videos on this website. Do not give him the ball behind the line of scrimmage on a double reverse like Garrett did – TO is no longer the young jinker he used to be. Recognize his strengths and utilize them. He is unparalleled at drawing double-team coverage, so you should be able to get the ball to Lee Evans and watch him do some of the jinking you’ll no longer see TO do.
He does not “drop the ball”, as is commonly thought. You’ll be amazed at some of his catches, but when Romo underthrows him and he reaches back in vain to gather it in, well, there’s another “dropped pass”. Look up the drop stats for Randy Moss; he’s almost at the top of the AFC. Why? Because those who have more balls thrown to them are going to catch more and drop more than those who have fewer balls thrown to them. It’s a simple matter of percentages. So don’t be swept up by misinformed “common knowledge.” And when the TV zooms in on TO “angrily ranting” on the sidelines realize two things: 1) As Coach Jauron said, every sideline in every game has the same thing go on. 2) You’ll see, if you pay attention, that often TO isn’t “ranting” – he’s urging his team on, like you’d hope every other player is doing.
TO is a good teammate and an outstanding wide receiver who will be a big asset to your team if you use him correctly. But he isn’t a tower of mature, emotional strength; he tends to wear his feelings on his sleeves and speak exactly what he thinks. So expect to be disappointed in that area – an area you really shouldn’t care much about. He’s a Gen. Patton, and, like Patton, will sometimes embarrass you with his mouth – but not with his play. Patton, too, was a “locker-room cancer” because he slapped soldiers he believed were slackers. The press got wind of it and crucified Patton, who also wasn’t very mature when it came to handling criticism. Gen. Eisenhower and Jerry Jones weren’t like Lincoln, who responded to the jealous outrage about the whiskey-drinking Gen. Grant with the famous in-your-face retort, “Find out what brand he drinks so I can send a case of it to all of my generals.” – Eisenhower and Jones fired their Grants.
Getcha popcorn ready for an enjoyable season. And please don’t get sucked in by “common knowledge”, don’t expect your Buffalo Bills superstar to patiently and maturely suffer fools gladly, and don’t lose sight of the fact that modern technology has made a large part of the “fun” of pro football the fact that we can all mindlessly and viciously badmouth people we’ve never met. For example, I’ve already read one anonymous poster say TO signed for one year with the Bills just because he wants other wealthier teams with true playoff potential to see the “locker room cancer” stories are false and sign him up as a free agent at a price the Bills can’t afford to match. I read it! So it’s got to be true! What a selfish ball player! Facts mean nothing today; public perception is everything.
This is by me...I would just like to point out that most the players on the Cowboys have said that they liked T.O, and the ones who haven't have not said anything at all. Most of the fans from Dallas that I have heard talk on forums and such, say that they will miss T.O, and think that he was a scapegoat for there bad season.
The real telling part is even though Jerry Jones had to cut him, he still said positive things to say about him. He didn't have to, but he did.
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