perfectly welcome to laugh at whatever you want. I can just see JJ copying Al any day now.

I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat it: I’m a HUGE Romo fan. I do think he’s the guy, without a doubt. But it’s clear to me now that the Giants playoff game last year was no fluke. Romo has several mental aspects of the game to work on, IMO, including taking losses a bit harder, getting to a spot where he can perform better in big games and not enjoying the ‘comeback’ in games so much (I’m thinking of Arizona and Baltimore games this year, among others). In other words, Romo needs to have the laser-focus earlier in games BEFORE we’re down a bunch. He needs more Aikman and Brady in him and less “aw, shucks, I get to go bang Jess” of an attitude.

I’m not saying everyone else but Romo is perfect. They’re not, including T.O. and the O-Line and the coaching staff. But I view Romo as the gating item in terms of our making and having success in the playoffs right now.

The reason why everyone’s on this “Charismatic T.O.” nonsense is because the media felt that the team would turn on T.O. and instead they turned on cowardly snitches and Romo’s practice habits. So now Owens is like Barack Obama in terms of his appeal, supposedly. I think that’s a joke. Professional athletes are going to say what they feel, especially guys as competitive as NFL players. They just want to win, and if they feel someone saying stuff to Ed Werder is hurting that goal then it’s going to come out. And it did, and it didn’t go the way Werder and many in local media wanted it to go. I wrote JFE right after her “Charismatic T.O.”-type article and told her “Yep, I knew you were going to write this piece after you reported that T-New said a coward is tearing the team apart.” In other words, the dominoes werent falling the way the media wanted them to in their manipulation of the blame game so it was time to play the ‘Charismatic T.O.’ game.

Most of the people here know how the media game works. This junk with T.O. is just the latest flurry to hurt him and Dallas. Ditto on Pac Man. That doesn’t mean there’s not info to report or this is all made up, but when ESPN’s headline says “Cowboys May Release Owens” and then the info in the article says that issue hasn’t even been brought up yet in a serious way among management you know what the agenda is.

As far as Owens goes, he definitely has his problems. I wish his hands were better, wish he didn’t cut some routes short and I wish he wouldn’t lobby for more action via Deion or other surrogates. All of that being said, I absolutely believe that T.O. is all about winning and his actions come from that. T.O. does have a strong personality. So what? Time for some of the other guys to suck it up and grow a pair.

The one thing you can say about T.O. that you can’t yet say about Romo or about guys like McNabb is he likes pressure and thrives in it. Broken ankle before Super Bowl? Big game. 49ers need a TD pass to beat the Packers? Owens. JJT calls Owens out as over the hill? 200+ yards receiving. Must-have game when Romo and others go fetal position against the Birds? 100+ yards. There are plenty of other examples.

Owens is a high-strung, ultra-competitive physical freak warrior. He’s a sure-fire Hall of Famer who still has plenty left. I don’t think he missed any games this year. Has he lost some skill? Yeah, he has. But not enough that he can’t still contribute in a big way next year, especially when RW2, Felix Jones, Choice, Bennett, etc are more integrated and other things (like the line and coaching) are hopefully also improved.

People like ESPN know the deal. They understand that if things go properly then the team the Cowboys were supposed to be this year they may be able to be next year. For guys like Werder and some of his bosses at ESPN, they don’t want that to happen. They don’t want T.O. to succeed, and they don’t want the Cowboys to succeed with him. You think that Pac Man story being scheduled for Week 1 of the playoffs was a surprise in terms of timing? Heck no. That was a Werder before Giants special to help drag the Boys down had they made the playoffs. Again, it’s not if information exists. There is a ton of stuff out there on many guys and teams in the league. It’s what, and when, you choose to pursue it. It’s not an accident that the loudest voices that want T.O. gone from the team are guys that hate him and the Cowboys (Carter, Wilbon, …).

T.O. can play on my team anytime. You can’t replace guys like him so you find ways to deal with their quirks and unleash them. I love that guy. And when you see guys like Harrison and Plax doing the gun thing you realize that T.O. has never had any kind of legal issues and it makes all the hate for him even curiouser. Stephen A. Smith, who was in Philly for the McNabb/T.O. fiasco, says that was more McNabb’s thing, I’m pretty sure. And Smith is correct. SF was T.O.‘s fault, in my opinion, but not Philly. Besides the Deion interview I don’t think T.O. did much of anything this year.

Bring him back. Do not pay extra money, and have more dead money, to take your best playmaker away. I’m certain either or both Machiavelli and/or Sun-Tzu have lessons on what happens when you allow your enemies to devise your strategies for you, personnel or otherwise. To quote Dennis Hopper: “Bad things, man. Bad things.” ESPN, Werder, Wilbon, Cris Carter need to shut up or cease being listened to by Cowboys fans and management. They’re not friends, they’re not neutral, and they’re not looking out for the team’s best interest. Ditto many in the local media who understand that if they trash T.O. and the team they have a better chance of getting more run on ESPN. That means you, JJT.

This is all a big game to the media types. You just have to understand how it is played. I worked in the media, and I have a brother who did, too. He interviewed T.O. way back in SF. He thought T.O. was great. I feel the same way. Not perfect, great.

Jerry – you know what you have to do.

Keep T.O.

…I totally agree with basically everything that you said, stoproyce.

People think that T.O. wants to overpower everybody and wants people around him to be weak. NO. I know people like T.O. and they actually want people to meet their intensity level and bring it, and, as stoproyce said, be men about it. Cut the cowardly BS leaking with Werder. That’s what the team via Gurode and Williams was saying, as well as T-New. Guys like T.O. will only respect you if you stand up to them and for yourself. So stop worrying about trying to get rid of the guy and just step up and go the extra mile. That’s good for the team, it’s what T.O. wants and it will help the team to win.

People misunderstand Owens, I think. You just have to get how much he wants to win and how competitive he is to understand what he does. He’s nearing the end and he wants Garrett and Romo to get up to speed fast before his time runs out. That’s where all of his verbalizing comes from.

During the last Eagles game, you could see T.O. go into a kind-of a fatherly mode, almost, with Romo. He could have melted down or done the kind of things people think he’s about but he didn’t. Why? Because it was over. Meaning, his behavior before was to try to help get results. Now that the game and season were lost, there was no reason to be fired up or try to get people motivated. And that resignation shows me that all of this isn’t because he’s jealous of Witten or doesn’t like Romo or any of that. It’s about trying to win. Once that goal was gone, T.O. calmed down and was talking with shell-shocked Romo. You hope that this is finally starting to get through to Romo, and I think that last game may finally have done it. If that is the case, then the embarrassment loss may actually end up helping us in the end.