Originally posted by WINiner:
Look im not saying Jerry Rice was a saint. Im not saying he was infallible. However he never pulled the crap that TO did to the level that TO did. There is a reason no teams want him when he has proven he is physically capable. Teams were giving Rice a shot till he was what, 42/43? In EVERY stop TO started out with a bang and then quickly wore out his welcome.
Rice wore out his welcome in SF. You think he wound up with the Raiders by accident? Then with the Seahawks? And then trying to make the Broncos (and failing)?
The reason Rice lasted as long as he did?
1. He played in the pre-internet boom era, so the media that attacked him for his
much worse behavior than Owens was confined to print. ESPN was a completely different organization during the 90's, centering around a national news/highlights/information (and anchor personalities, of course)-based model.
2. He was a better receiver than Owens.
Owens is not unanimously seen as a truly great receiver. There are numerous scouts and General Managers who never thought he was that great a player.
And since when is 8 years in SF "quickly wearing out his welcome?"
TO was the next great WR for SF. He put up well over 5k yds in his last 4 seasons. In each of those seasons he nearly doubled the next closest WR's production and in 01 nearly tripled the next closest WR on the team, yet the team made ZERO effort to resign TO in a season when TO put up nearly double the stats that Tai Streets did. Why do you think that is?
Who was the General Manager during those years, and where is he now?
You know who else was gone that same off-season? Jeff Garcia, Garrison Hearst, Derrick Deese, Ron Stone, Tai Streets, and Jed Weaver.
People point to him playing with screws in his foot during the SB. After such a heroic performance that same team can't wait to get him out the door? Why do you think that is?
They waited through the biggest media frenzy seen until the February/March Charlie Sheen days, only to finally give up when Owens refused to apologize to McNabb. Had he apologized to McNabb, they were going to let him back on the team. Doesn't sound like "couldn't wait to get rid of him" to me. Owens says Andy Reid called him after the suspension, and he believes Reid was leaning toward letting him back, but Banner/Lurie wouldn't go for it.
The freaking Cowboys put up with Irvin and his BS for years and years and he would have been welcome to continue his career there had he not been injured. Cocaine arrests, prostitutes, you name it. TO comes in, performs very well and has NONE of those kinds of issues yet they also couldn't wait to get him out the door after year two. Why do you think that is?
Why do you? What do you think he's doing? Irvin stabbed a teammate in the neck with a pair of scissors.
What could Owens have possibly been doing that was actually worse than that?
This argument works against you, not for you.
In 2009 TO was with the Bills. He was their best WR, the next closest in receptions was their RB who had 9 less catches and less than 1/2 the yards as TO who averaged 15.1 per reception on his 55 catches for nearly 900 yards. He had a really nice year for them and we heard little to nothing publicly, yet the Bills declined to have him back after that 1 year. Why do you think that is?
Chan Gailey publicly stated that when reviewing the film, he thought Owens "had hit a wall." The Bills were rebuilding, and a 36-year-old coming off 829 yards (that's not nearly 900) and 5 touchdowns didn't exactly fit into their plan.
TO despite being physically able, has now been booted off a team in the Indoor Football League when surely being one of if not the most talented WR in that entire league. Why do you think that is?
Uh, maybe because the owners wanted their shares of the ownership back? They'd milked all the cash out of him they could get, and when he declined to play in the final road games (which weren't in his contract), they had no use for him anymore.
Nah TO isn't an ass hat, not at all, he's just not being treated fairly in SF, Philly, Dallas, Buffalo, Cinci, Allen Tx.
1. No. No, he isn't.
2. Even if he were...you say this as if he would be the only ass hat in the NFL. What a coincidence that the "worst guy ever" also happens to be second all-time in receiving yards and touchdowns and one of the stars of the game. I mean, think of the thousands and thousands of players to come through the NFL the past 12 years. It just so happens to be this great one who is worse than anyone else, and not Johnny Solidstarter or Jim Roleplayer who is an insufferable, surly a*****e.
Media sensationalism creating the "drama?" Naaah, couldn't be.
Teams regularly prefer to kick the most productive WR on their team to the curb rather than keep him and his production around.....errr wait, don't teams usually go out of their way to keep highly productive players around?
Unsuccessful teams do things like this all the time.
TO has never been franchise tagged. No team has ever tried to prevent him from departing. Most teams were perfectly happy with the idea of him leaving with no compensation.
Why do you think that is?
1. Not true. The 49ers signed him to a 7-year contract following the 1998 season. Then the Cowboys signed him to an extension following the 2007 season.
2. The only times Owens has actually hit (and successfully filed for) free agency were when he was 36 and 37 years old, coming off losing seasons on teams heading into rebuilding mode. Rebuilding teams don't typically bring back old players they only signed to 1-year-deals the year before.
