More On Terrell Owens Signing One-Year Contract with Buffalo
March 7, 2009 by dwil
According to ESPN’s John Clayton, Terrell Owens has agreed to a one-year, $6.5 million contract with the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills are expected to hold a 6:15 p.m. news conference to confirm the signing.
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Addendum:
In the press conference Owens said the following:
“I’m leaving America’s team [for] North America’s team.
“I must move on, and it’s another beginning for me,” Owens said. “If I can be that extra added piece to get them to the playoffs, then that’s what I’m here for. I looked at the defensive side of ball and offensive side of the ball, and these guys have all the pieces.”
Owens will now team up with Bills wideout Lee Evans and dangerous running back Marshawn Lynch, who has been called a “poor man’s Marshall Faulk.” The two should be a potent pair for quarterback Trent Edwards, as last season no Buffalo receiver had a 100-yard game and head coach Dick Jauron lamented the fact that his team lacked explosiveness in the passing game.
With the addition of Owens and an already solid defense, the Bills appear poised to make a playoff run.
Finally, Owens was released by Dallas on Wednesday and signed with Buffalo 72 hour later. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen had reported that as many as 30 teams, including Buffalo, had no interest in Owens. So, how did the Big Subliminal spin the quick Buffalo signing? ESPN’s, AFC East “Blogger” Tim Graham wrote:
Owens has a history of being divisive in the locker room. While the Bills have failed to reach the postseason since Wade Phillips was their coach, they prided themselves on their chemistry. The team is loaded with character individuals.
It will be interesting to see whether Owens becomes a distraction, especially if he doesn’t get enough passes thrown his way. Offensive coordinator Turk Schonert and quarterback Trent Edwards will be responsible for keeping Owens satisfied.
Meantime, renowned Owens’ hater Matt Mosley had this to say:
T.O.’s proven that he can destroy any locker room — no matter how tight it might be. The Bills are being naive to think they could be the exception. But in reality, he’s being brought in as a mercenary. Buffalo apparently thinks it’s one elite player away from making a playoff run. That seems like a stretch to me in the competitive AFC East.
Tim Graham of AFC East blog fame, this guy is all yours!
And just to spread the hate around the country, ESPN’s AFC West “Blogger” Bill Williamson was most caustic:
Signing Owens would have been a disaster for the Raiders. He has been run off of every team he’s been on in the NFL. It would not have been different in Oakland. The Raiders, if they are going to snap a six-season funk, have to stop being dysfunctional.
There have been signs the team is making an effort to stabilize things by keeping Tom Cable on as coach, signing standouts Nnamdi Asomugha and Shane Lechler to long-term deals, getting rid of players who failed and not overpaying in free agency this season.
Oakland is trying. Staying away from Owens is another good sign.
Owens is not the type of player who turns a loser into a winner. He would have gotten in the way of Oakland’s rebuilding process and he would have been tough on JaMarcus Russell.
The fact that Owens is a Buffalo Bill doesn’t improve the Raiders’ receiving crew, but it makes the Raiders better as a whole. The notion of Owens wearing silver and black was intriguing in theory, but it would have been a disaster in practicality.
Buffalo just did the Raiders a huge favor by removing the T.O. temptation.
There you have it, as always, the boys from the Big Disney stay classy.
In answering Linda Cohn saying T.O. said every one of the Cowboys guys were his friend, Chris Mortenesen replied with all the snark he could muster:
“Why wouldn’t you believe T.O.?”
After the Oakland Raiders flat out called Mortensen a liar (notice how the story slinked off into the shadows) and after averring that 30 teams did not want Owens, why would you believe Mortensen?
Whoa…..I certainly didn’t see this one coming. Looks like someone wanted T.O. after all. I’m sure that the T.O. haters on BSPN are mad as hell right about now.
LMAO! Oh of course GN! Why just yesterday…NO team wanted T.O. except for maybe Oakland! Well now Buffalo, which needed a spark, just got a lil upkick for its ticket sales and all the free press it could ever want! Hotels and restaurants in Buffalo will be mighy happy come late July!
Great news! I never saw this one coming but I’m glad he’s with my second favorite team now.
I loved what Donte Whitner said about how he’s not going to judge him by the public perception of TO. I’m glad the players don’t buy into all that BS in the media.
Everyone-
Check out the article updates. I snagged some priceless quotes from the haters at the Big Subliminal.
that quote from bill williamson couldn’t have been more incorrect. T.O was not “run off by every team he’s played for”.
I live in the bay area so I remember his time for the 49ers well. The niners wanted Terrell to stay but he was so unhappy there he left. Does anyone remember the infamous mistake by his old agent? T.O.’s agent failed to file his free agency papers in time, so therefore instead of a clean break, T.O. was traded to the eagles because the 49ers retained his rights.
So due to Terrell being traded to Philly, the new contract was a little different than it would have been if he signed as a free agent (which we all know eventually led to a contract dispute and his dismissal).
Yeah, chuck….i remember that incident when his agent failed to file his free agent papers in time. I had actually forgot about it until you jarred my memory. Good post.
dwil, way to lay out that ESPN hate… Mosley is just so very pathetic. He has been blogging like crazy and couldn’t be any more unprofessional. I just read his last 10 blog posts, and it is comical and sad how much he hates TO. He keeps going on about TO’s decline, yet he is only one of 5 wide receivers in the NFL last year to have 1000 yards and 10 TDs. He also says that Lee Evans is on decline since 2006, but Evans gained 1000 yards last year. Matt mosley has become a complete hack. It is so sad to see someone sell his soul so blatantly.
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This should be a good fit for T.O…. less media attention in buffalo, and a team that is three wins away from a playoff spot — just what TO might bring. No more Ed Werder on the case too. This should be a potent offense and possibly two 1000 yard receivers for Edwards
Hello you guys.
I was soooo pissed about what happened to “TO” that I joined the Bills Fan Club and some how came across your posts from one of the forums.
I do not know anything about the Bills -as a former Cowboy Fan- I was looking for an excused to cut them loose when it became obvious that they have a serious QB problem
Sadie
I was listening to Mortenson being interviewed by Cohn and he was going on and on about how there was a diminished market for T.O. because he signed so quickly. He would have said the same thing if T.O. had taken 4 months to sign with another team.
I don’t get the diminishing skills thing either. Dude played three games with a statue at quarterback. You states will be down if you play like 20% of your games without your starting quarterback and when he does come back he has a jacked-up throwing hand. Are Randy Moss’ skills declining? Surely no more than T.O.’s, but since Moss is no longer Public Enemy Number 2 or 3 his numbers are not mentioned and rightly so.
Now the spin is “if so many teams wanted him, then why did he sign so fast? ” Well, I believe that T.O. and Drew just pulled a fast one. They did not desire to be the new Manny story “who is going to sign T.O?” B.S. They did not want the story to linger on. They found a team, signed with them and have already had the welcoming press conference. Now all he has to do is prepare for training camp. Now what is ESPN going to do. They thought that they had a story that would propell them into the summer ala Mike Vick or Brett Favre and remember we don’t usually even hear from T.O. until football starts. Maybe Buffalo is good for him. Although we all know that a bad reputation is very hard to overcome.
Mactown, I heard that…..Chris Mortensen sounded like a fool…he reminded me of the numbnuts on FoxNews on Nov 5th.
i can’t think of a single story mortensen has gotten correct in the last handful of years.
i hope this works out for to. trent edwards was having a pretty nice season until the concussion, with to this offense could be much improved.
The funniest thing I’ve been reading today is how many people are upset that the Bills signed him so quickly because he ‘didn’t learn his lesson’. They all wanted him to grovel for another job, or end up in a dead end but it didn’t happen.
I’ve also been seeing a lot of lazy journalism because Sean Payton said TO led the league in drops with 33, and everyone has been quoting him on that. TO did not lead the league in drops last year, and only had 10 drops. Funny how the whole dropped passes stat seems to have come into existence just to further tarnish TO.
this is probably the most important thing when it comes to TO, as said by marcus stroud:
“I’ve never heard a player say anything bad about him.”
Great post Dwil. I like how you broke down the media comments. I mean it really doesn’t surprise me the comments that are made by ESPN. I mean these are the same fools that had an orgasm at the thought that TO commited suicide. I wanted to personally go down to the local ESPN station here and slap the he!! out of those fools the way they were jumping up for joy when TO had the overdose.
As for TO like I said in the other post it was a smart move to go to Buffalo. There is less media and their isn’t a so called golden boy QB in place. The only thing is TO still needs to watch his back in Buffalo because Dick Jauron is on the hot seat. Don’t be surprised if the bills don’t make the playoffs that the media or bills (heck even both) try to throw TO under the bus because of Jauron’s poor coaching.
But with TO, Lee and Lynch the Bills have the most high powered offense since the old K-gun team with Kelly, Thurman, Reed and Lofton. We will see how they due. No reason for Edwards to come up short now. There is no young QB in the league with a more weapons.
As for Dick Jauron you better make it happen or your @ss is grass after this season.
Another thing how much of a clown @ss “A Pimp named Jerry Jones” is that he cuts his best WR and takes a cap hit. Heck the fool probably could have gotten a pick for TO (maybe a 4th or 5th rounder). Amazing in one week in the media’s eyes Jerry jones goes from the next Al Davis thats running the cowboys into the ground to a genuis owner because he got rid of TO, Roy Williams, Tank and Adam Jones. Plus now the local media calls Roy Williams a malcontent ummm since when has he been a problem.
I have to say though I will miss Roy Williams he has done so much community work (concerning kids) in Dallas. The only athlete that I have known here that did as much community work with kids was Micheal Finley.
By what standard does Tim Graham declare that the Bills are “loaded with character individuals”? Hiarlious.
Guess he just ignores Marcus Stroud’s suspensions, Roscoe Parrish’s DUIs, James Hardy’s multiple red flags, and Marshawn Lynch’s wildin-da-fugg out.
I’m not saying they are bad guys, but don’t try to make it sound like the BIlls are a team full of angels just to pizz on T.O. Having your star RB acting a damn fool or your 2nd round draft pick pulling a burner on his dad are waaaay bigger distractions than anything T.O. can bring to town.
True sweet true.
ESPiNners…
…also, I never would’ve guess the Bills. Thurman Thomas said this several days ago…
“The team I can’t stomach the most when I watch them is probably the Buffalo Bills. I’m serious. They stink. They need some better football players.”
LOL!!!
O-
Thanks and agreed. It’s all on Jauron this season ————– NO EXCUSES!
” With the addition of Owens and an already solid defense, the Bills appear poised to make a playoff run.” Not with Jauron as coach, unless he gets fired after 4 games. Looks more like marketing than anything else. “TO in TO” (Toronto, Ontario).
T.J. Houshmandzadeh just “checked” Rich Eisen on NFL Network regarding T.O. Seems that Rich tried to play the “cancer-in-the-locker-room” card with Housh, who reminded Rich that all of his Dallas teammates had nothing but good things to say about him. T.J. also said that the Cowboys’ problems are Romo and Garrett.
The look on Eisen’s and Mike Mayock’s face was priceless. That was good TV.
Oh yeah…..Houshmanzadeh also gave a shot out to T.O., wished him well and said that he hopes he proves all his critics wrong this upcoming season.
EWWW…wish I could have seen those expressions from Eisen and Mayock!!
The weird thing was over the last couple of days i’ve actually read a few positive things about TO on ESPN’s website. Hopefully the AFC east writers aren’t a bunch of hacks like the NFC guys were. Of course the positive stuff is still nothing compared to the usual venom.
And oh look Matt Jones got arrested once again, and as always many of the comments are defending him.