Lots of Owens related material to report on today. SI.com has a scoop I haven't seen anywhere else. All of the quotes are attributed to an unidentified Cowboys player, and are very negative about the whole Owens' situation, and not just the injury. So I have to question what the real motivation of the player is; perhaps we've got someone here who is likely to be cut or traded, or has felt the sting of Parcells' wrath and is not happy. According to the anonymous source, Parcells was a little perturbed by Terrell's continued absence, and ordered him back to practice.
I'm not sold, that's some very specific language for a Cowboys player to have overheard. There may be some truth to it, but if Parcells was going to do this, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do it within earshot of another player. Here's more from the source:
"The bottom line is, he appeared to be healthy and wasn't practicing. So we'd sit and wonder, Who's gonna win? How's it gonna go down?'"
I don't know, that sounds like someone who is very disgruntled with the Cowboys. But I'm not the kind of guy who states an opinion and will never admit that he was wrong, so maybe things were getting a little testy behind the scenes. But I'm still suspect of this article, because whoever said these things is obviously no fan of Owens, so I remain skeptical of their motivation. What do you guys think? Am I just ignoring the obvious?
Hat tip to silverblue5 who alerted me to this article from Peter King on the Owens' return over in the diaries. Click here to read silverblue5's Diary entitled "Don't Mess With da Big Tuna".
There's more Owens stuff, but I put it below the fold so this post wouldn't run too long on the front page. Click the link below to read the rest.
JJT has some more Owens related stuff in the DMN pay section. Here's a quote from Stephen Jones:
You could read that as a tacit endorsement of the idea that Parcells was feeling that Owens should be back at practice. But I get the feeling that Parcells probably always feels that way, so I'm not sure how much this case is different than any other.
The 11-year veteran showed signs of rust, dropping a pass after cornerback Terence Newman hit him. The pass, thrown slightly behind Owens, was intercepted by safety Keith Davis.
On the next play, Owens beat Newman on a deep post for a long touchdown. Later, he dropped a deep ball after getting behind Jacques Reeves.
Some of you guys have already discussed that the one weakness Owens has on the field is that he sometimes drops balls. Hopefully, this was just first practice back rustiness, and not a sign of things to come.
Todd Archer has an article on the same subject.
Witten sounds frustrated by the constant questions from the press. I totally understand that, he just echoing Parcells' comments that he doesn't want to be a "trained pig" who talks about it everyday. Unfortunately for everybody, that's the baggage that Owens brings with him.
Owens wasn't the only guy to return to practice yesterday.
"It's all right," Carpenter said after practice. "It's difficult not being out there, and you don't want to get behind when you're out there. I need to get back as quickly as I could."
Todd Archer also has some tidbits from yesterday's practice.
Cornerbacks Jacques Reeves and Anthony Henry and safety Keith Davis had interceptions. Davis' pick came after Terrell Owens let a Bledsoe pass deflect off his hands.
Sean Ryan, in a fight with Tony Curtis for one of the final tight end spots, had two acrobatic catches down the seam Wednesday.
Sam Hurd is still one of the top stories in camp, but the undrafted free agent receiver let at least two balls go through his hands Wednesday.
Sounds like Hurd might be running into his first struggle with the new expectations placed on him because of his good work in camp so far. Archer also said that Jamaica Rector had the catch of the day on a long bomb; Willie Pile had the hit of the day when he popped Tyson Thompson on a running play. and Jason Witten had a case of the "dropsies" yesterday on two separate passes.