Shut Up or Go Home

If the San Francisco 49ers could place a bet as an organization, any bet, they probably would’ve bet the house in Vegas that Terrell Owens would act like a selfish, big-mouthed problem for the team that he left San Fran for. Too bad they couldn’t – because true to form, TO is acting a fool.

Let’s be honest, Philadelphia knew Owens could possibly be a major pain in the neck. So like the brilliant football businessmen that they are they put clauses in his $49 million contract to try and fend off situations like they witnessed yesterday. His contract stipulates that TO can be made to pay back $1,725,000 of his $2.3 million signing bonus if he has an episode like yesterday that is considered ‘conduct detrimental to the team’.

I’ve played sports since I was five years old and have made it a lifelong passion…and I would venture to say that a verbal fight with his head coach is indeed ‘conduct detrimental to the team’. We can go back and forth on what the real problem was yesterday, reports have varied. Some say that Andy Reid and Terrell Owens started to argue because the star wide receiver refused to attend a mandatory autograph session. Another report said that Reid questioned Owens for continually practicing away from the rest of the team and ignoring his teammates. I heard on Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio this morning from Sal Paolantonio that one report said that Reid confronted TO about an incident that happened late in practice on Tuesday. It was said that Reid was furious about TO telling Offensive Coordinator Brad Childress, “Don’t talk to me unless I talk to you” when Childress attempted to speak with Terrell.

"Terrell Owens has been sent home from training camp due to
undisclosed team issues," the Eagles said in a statement. "He is expected to return to the team on Wednesday, Aug. 17."

I don’t really care which one of those situations happened – seriously, what’s the difference? The bottom line is that Owens’ attitude is getting worse and worse as the days go by. His teammates are losing respect for him by the minute and his coach and GM could care less if he plays this season. Donovan McNabb said last Tuesday that his relationship with Owens was businesslike…doesn’t sound like these guys are cool anymore to me.

TO feels like he’s got the Eagles in a tough situation – when fellow receiver Todd Pinkston tore his Achilles tendon last week it probably made the selfish Owens a happy jerk. He realizes that Greg Lewis is very unproven and that rookie Reggie Brown is just that – a rookie. They need Owens if they want to be in the hunt for the Super Bowl.

In most cases holdouts normally aren't a good situation. Though it probably would’ve been better if Owens didn’t show up at all last week – at least then he wouldn’t have been such a huge distraction.

"Everybody needs to understand the situation is all business. It's nothing personal," Owens said. "It's a situation between me and management."

I think Philly should tell him straight faced – we’ll look to trade you or release you in the off season, but we’re not doing anything until then. Act and play like a professional and then we’ll decide what to do. Then I’d look at the two or three worst teams in the NFL and trade his sorry butt to one of them. The bottom line is that Reid and Joe Banner are masterful at evaluating talent and playing the salary cap perfectly. The Eagles even without Terrell are set up to be a very nice team for the next five years…and wouldn’t they look really good with three more top draft picks in a trade for a big-mouthed distraction? Yes, they would.