TO Off to a Slow Start?

After last year's debacle, I think it's pretty clear the Eagles would be best served by thinking about Terrell Owens as little as possible.  Although he thrives on the chaos he creates, it seems to throw other players off their game.

Of course, since I'm not actually on the team, I can yap about him all I want.

Here's some quick news to warm an Owens-hater's heart (from the AP):

An MRI taken Saturday showed no damage to Terrell Owens' left hamstring, but the new Dallas receiver still isn't ready to get back on the practice field.

Owens missed his third straight day of work Saturday, this time sitting out an intrasquad scrimmage. He missed a morning walk-through to have the MRI...

Afterward, he stayed late to work with a rookie receiver, as he's done throughout his layoff.

They spent most of their half-hour session catching passes from a pitching machine, with Owens spinning to both sides after some grabs, and twisting and lunging for others while on his knees.

Despite those potentially injury-aggravating moves, Owens insisted he's being "smart with this thing."

First of all, it's amazing what a reporter will actually write when his/her stuff comes out without a byline.  That kind of snark there in the last line is a capital media offense for Mr. Owens.

The second interesting nugget is buried way down near the end of the story:

Coach Bill Parcells remains more concerned about the work Owens has missed than about the chance this is a serious injury.

"It's a little disappointing from the fact that we're hoping that he's a big part of our offense and he really hasn't been able to be out there that much," Parcells said. "Hopefully we'll get him back soon and go forward with it."

The Dallas offense hasn't looked good the first week of training camp, mostly because of problems with the offensive line. Bledsoe also has said he needs to throw to Owens more to get their timing down, adding that he hopes to put in extra work with Owens after practices next week.

I remember when Owens first came over to the Eagles and commentators (like Troy Aikman) said that it would take some time before McNabb and Owens were really able to get their timing down. Of course, in their first game together McNabb tossed three touchdown passes his way and they spent the season looking like they had played together since grade school.

Which raises a couple of interesting questions.  The first one is: how important for his transition was it that the Eagles ran about the same offense as the 49ers?  Will there be an adjustment time as Owens (no spring chicken) feels his way through a completely different scheme?

The second question is how important was it that he got to play with Donovan McNabb?  We have heard e n d l e s s commentary over the past year suggesting that McNabb was really just a mediocre quarterback before Owens arrived to make him great. 

How quickly we forget.

McNabb has been to the Pro Bowl -- elected by his peers -- five times.  He was MVP runner-up in 2000.  Among active quarterback with at least 60 starts, he has the highest winning percentage.  He ranks second in interception percentage ALL-TIME.  And he's fourth on the NFL's all-time list in TD:INT ratio.

Look at TO's career.  The guy has played with Steve Young, Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb.  Not a clunker in the bunch.  Not that Bledsoe is a terrible quarterback, but his best days are behind him and he's much more of a "manage the game" type of guy now.  Hmmmm...

Consider one other piece of evidence.  For years, Randy Moss has made the game of football look appallingly easy.  All you had to do was chuck it really far down the field and let him do his voodoo thing to go get it while everyone collapses around him, awed by his greatness.  So of course, going into 2005, he'd be a perfect fit for the Raiders, with their vertical passing philosophy and strong-armed quarterback.

Didn't work out that way.  He had decent numbers, but nothing spectacular.  Is that a portent for Owens and Dallas?  I guess we'll find out soon.

Assuming TO ever gets on the field.