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Mark's Archive
Let’s go back to a topic I posted a couple days ago, which got many responses, most of which similar in nature. I suggested the Ravens strongly consider signing Terrell Owens, and people came at me with such things as “The thin Pennsylvania air is getting to you,” and “I’d like to have some of what you’re smoking.” Hosts Bob Haynie and Drew Forrester posted blogs about how crazy the Bills (Owens’ new team) must be. I even heard it when I walked into my little league meeting wearing a Cowboys t-shirt. Everyone in the world is convinced T.O. is going to tear his new team apart immediately, and I think everybody’s wrong.
Let me put it this way. If you were in court, presenting a case of how Mr. Owens was going to ruin the Buffalo locker room in a matter of weeks, there would be no evidence to support your claim. None. As a matter of fact, all evidence would point to the contrary. In my blog, I stated that the Ravens should offer a one-year deal, which is exactly what the Bills ended up doing. If the Bills would have signed T.O. to a three or four year deal, I would say there is very little chance of him being happy for that long. But for one year, it’s almost a given. Let’s look at the history.
Phily: His first year with the Eagles he was awesome, catching 14 touchdowns in 14 games, adding a dimension to the offense not seen before or since. A late season ankle injury, which included a fractured fibula, had doctors saying his season was over. After the Eagles got to through the playoffs without him, T.O. returned for the Super Bowl, in what most people assumed would be nothing more than a token appearance. His “one legged” performance was closer to super-human. If the Eagles had won, it would rank with Willis Reed.
There was not a negative word about T.O. before or during the season. It wasn’t until that off-season when he ripped McNabb on a radio show.
Dallas: During his first season there, T.O. was ripped more for his play than anything else. It was well documented how many passes he was dropping. However, he broke a finger in week two, and then injured a tendon in the same finger in a subsequent game. Instead of having in-season surgery, which would have forced him to miss games, T.O. put it off until after the season. And, oh-by-the-way, even with all the dropped passes, he led the league in touchdown receptions.
His next season in Dallas, he set a Cowboys single season record for touchdown reception, and literally cried in support of Tony Romo after a playoff loss when the entire football world was pinning the defeat on Romo for a first-round-bye-trip to Mexico with Jessica Simpson.
The topic is T.O.’s behavior, but I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone how special of a player he is. In franchise history, the Ravens have had one receiver catch more than 10 touchdown passes in a season. (Michael Jackson in 1996) T.O. has caught 10 or more touchdowns in eight different seasons, including his one full season in Phily, and all three years in Dallas. In fact, Owens caught 38 touchdowns in his three seasons with the Cowboys, which is eight more than any reciever in Ravens’ history. Todd Heap is actually the only Batlimore reciever to have caught even 20 touchdowns IN HIS RAVEN’S CAREER. But again, this blog isn’t about how good he is, it’s about how good he acts during his first season with a new team. Let’s get back to that.
The part of this whole saga that really puzzles me is that we just saw this exact scenario play out in another sport. Manny Ramirez, who is baseball’s version of T.O., was a pain in the Red Sox’s neck for years. Do you remember the water bottle in his back pocket? Ducking into the green monster during pitching changes? How about the time he was too sick to play, too sick to pinch hit, but healthy enough to meet his buddy Enrique Wilson in the hotel bar after the game? As a player, Manny is borderline immortal. He was a huge component of Boston winning its first title in almost a century. Remember, he was the World Series MVP in 2004. Even with all that, it didn’t stop the Sox from putting him on waivers almost every off-season. Also, don’t forget, when Arod agreed to be traded to Boston it was Manny heading out to Texas. If the players union hadn’t nixed the deal due to alterations in Arod’s contract, Manny would have been a Ranger.
Then, after helping bring another World Series title to Boston and being taken in as the city’s clown prince with the phrase “Manny being Manny” being spun like a campaign slogan, Mr. Ramirez pulled the ultimate; insubordination. He refused to play. After telling manager Terry Francona he couldn’t play because of a bad knee, Francona told the post-game press crew, “no one knew his knee was even bothering him.” Manny eventually admitted to quitting on the Red Sox. Boston was forced to trade him, and they did, as everyone knows, to the Dodgers.
Then, what was the media saying? What was Joe Torre going to get in his new left fielder? Consensus among the baseball world was Mr. Torre would get “the best player he’d ever had.” For two months, with a contract looming, Manny would try to prove the world wrong, showing he wasn’t a bad guy, and putting up numbers like few people not named Manny could ever dream of. In 53 games as a Dodger, he hit 17 home runs and drove in 53 runs. His batting average was .396, his on base percentage was .489, and his slugging percentage was .743. And all this, while being protected in the lineup by the likes of Russell Martin, James Loney and Nomar Garciaparra. Yes, Manny went to Los Angeles, knew he needed to keep his mouth shut and perform, and he did.
T.O. did the same thing when he went to Phily and to Dallas, at least for a while. Do you really think he won’t do it again? I do, especially if they’re winning.
I will agree, that if the Bills find themselves 2-5, #81 might be a problem. But how bad can he tear a team apart who’s 2-5 five and already missing the playoffs nine straight years? I also realize that in this department, the Ravens and the Bills are at different levels. The Ravens do have something to be ruined, and the Bills don’t. But you watch, T.O. will do no ruining in 2009, unless you’re talking about opposing secondary’s. And that’s something the Raven’s don’t have; a receiver who can change the game. They could have had one, and rather cheaply, but they don’t. It’s going to be hard to get past the Steelers without one.
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March 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
You’re an idiot!! A team looking to just make a splash… maybe it makes sense(NO, No, No). But for a team that went to the AFC CG… it would be the dumbest thing any one team has done simce the Cowboys signed him. DUMb DUMB DUMB!!!!! Idiot savant!
(EDIT:MM) The Cowboys were better with him than they were before he got there. They didn’t win a playoff game, but they did have the best record in the NFC in 2007, before Jessica/Mexico gate, and this is something they hadn’t done in years. The Eagles were better with him, too. I suspect so will be the Bills. I also suspect the Ravens will have trouble getting by the Steelers, again. T.O. would have helped.
Here’s another example I should have listed. Remember when the Bulls signed Dennis Rodman? He was certifiable when they got him, but they had a need and wanted to win. For a short while, three titles worth to be exact, it worked. For a short while, T.O. would work, again, as he has everywhere else.
Maybe the thinking of T.O. mixed with a young, franchise quarterback, was not worth the risk. I can see that. But Flacco, without a big time receiver, isn’t going to the Super Bowl, especially if the defense regresses without Ryan, Scott, and Leonard. They need a receiver, a good receiver, and T.O. would have fit that bill.
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March 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Mark,
Do you think TO has found his final home before the 2009 season begins????
I still have a sneaky feeling that a pre-draft trade is a possibility with Buffalo and one of the other 30 NFL Teams……Don’t under estimate Drew Rosenhaus working his magic into a multi-year deal for TO with another team to maximize his commission to include a signing bonus!!!!
(EDIT:MM) A very valid point. Honestly, something I hadn’t thought about.
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March 9th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
You need to watch film. He is no longer a gamebreaking WR. He’s better than what we have but 31 teams passed because his talent is no longer worth the hassle. Manny’s talent still is worth the hassle. Throw in the fact that Harbaugh has worked with Team Obliterator and I’ll trust his judgement over yours.
(EDIT:MM) While I mentioned that he is no longer the player he used to be, in his last three seasons, T.O. has averaged almost 1200 yards a season and 13 touchdowns. Those are non-gamebreaking numbers that the Ravens could use. What do you think he’ll put up in Buffalo? If he stays healthy, he’s still a 10 and 1000 receiver.
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March 9th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I guess that you have forgotten that Harbaugh worked the lockeroom that Owens crushed in Philly.I thought CMAC was a bad cut and you wantto bring Owens in? Maybe at tightend.
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March 9th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I dont get it Mark, I thought this offseason Harbough was trying to rid the team of locker room problems not aquire them. And given the fact that he was with the Eagles with that whole TO debacle theres no way he would go along with signing him. I can see it now, the Ravens beat the Browns 42-0, run the ball 45 times and pass 15 times TO will be going off in the post game press conference about how he only got 3 passes thrown to him. Heres a stat for you, whens the last time TO won a playoff game?? 2002. Thats an awfuly long time to not win a playoff game for a guy to be that big of a difference maker. Owens will get his numbers but come January whatever team he is on will sink, that is of course if he makes it that far.
(EDIT:MM) Did you know from the 2000 season to the 2007 season, Randy Moss won exactly one playoff game? And oh yeah, he was a locker room problem…but now he’s not. Maybe, just maybe, in the right enviornment, Terrell would be OK. It is possible, isn’t it? It was for Randy.
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Your analogy of TO to Manny doesn’t hold water because baseball and football are completely different games. Football is much more of a team sport than baseball, requiring 11 players on the field working with numerous complex plays requiring all players to be in sync with execution. Baseball is much more of an individual sport. While there’s a little more coordination on defense, a batter at the plate is pretty much trying to get the ball in play and get to a base safely on his own. Nowhere near the level of coordination required in football.
Having that said, football is a game where everyone needs to be on the same page, and that is to win the game and not glorify themselves. TO has proven to me a me-first player, and in today’s NFL, that doesn’t win championships. Especially with the parity in today’s game, everyone needs to be working towards one goal and not have a someone undermining authority to the point of distracting the team’s focus. And if TO does start bad-mouthing authority, other weaker individuals take notice and start joining him and that’s how the cancer spreads.
What if Ray Lewis or Ed Reed played like TO and tried to make all the tackles and interceptions or cried when a play wasn’t called that would help them shine? The result would be a lot of big plays for the other team’s offenses and a nightmare of a locker room for the coach whose job it is to get everyone working together.
There have been two teams who have tried the same approach you are suggesting and have failed. Einstein coined the definition of crazy as doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I think the Ravens chose to take the opportunity to save 6.5 million and keep a happy and cohesive locker room whose sole focus is winning for the team.
(EDIT:MM) This response has many flaws. I don’t even know where to begin. Wanting the ball doesn’t necessarily make you a me player. Anquan Bolden, complaining during a success playoff march about his lack of inclusion in the offense, that’s a me player. T.O. usually complains when the team isn’t scoring and he’s not getting the ball. It would certainly be better if T.O. complained more privately, but I want my superstars to want the ball. But that’s just symantics. Deion Sanders may have been the greatest me player of all-time, but he won. So was Jerry Rice. I would also say Ray Lewis has a lot of me in him. And how do you use Ray-Ray as an example of what’s good an right? Ask Brian Billick how positive of a locker room for Mr. Lewis was during the 2007 season. #52 is a good leader for good teams. When the team is bad, Ray’s leadership is bad, or non-existent.
Now, on to what I would say are your most ridiculous accusations. You make it sound like T.O. runs whatever patterns he wants, that he is never on the same page with his teammates, and that every time the defense takes the field, there’s a fight on the sidelines. This is extremely inaccurate. Extremely. The accusations are against T.O. ruining the locker room. You don’t think that matters in baseball because they don’t run plays. Well, I’ve never heard any accusations of T.O. not running the play that was called. If you’re talking about some theoretical page, then I don’t see how baseball and football locker rooms are different. If you’re talking about a litteral page, meaning one from the playbook, T.O., while sometimes not liking the page, has always been on the same one, as far as I know.
The thing that makes me laugh about all these responses is no one, NO ONE, has commented on the Randy Moss analogy. If someone makes a point, and it doesn’t fit your arguement, just skipping it and pretending it doesn’t exist doesn’t work. Someone please tell me how he’s different than Randy Moss was! Tell me why Randy Moss was stolen for nothing more than a fourth round pick! Something! Anything! Make something up! Say something other than “the entire league thought Moss was a bad guy who wasn’t that good anymore….and they were all wrong.”
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March 10th, 2009 at 2:11 am
TO played for Dallas and Philly. Two winning organizations with good QBs, and in the playoff hunt every year but TO still wasnt happy. What better situation is there? Maybe with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning but not in Baltimore with Flacco. Flacco had a **** of a season last year but hes not on the same level as Romo and McNabb. Moss may have been a locker room problem but no where near what TO is. Hes been run out of 3 cities that had 3 pro bowl quarterbacks.
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March 10th, 2009 at 10:25 am
[...] Mark Mussina still thinks Ravens should have grabbed T.O. [...]
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March 10th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Not to drag this out forever, but here are some quick responses.
- Randy Moss analogy wasn’t mentioned in your original post which is all I read. However, it’s not an even comparison as Randy Moss’ wrong-doings don’t come close TOs actions. Randy is still happy to be a Patriot.
- There’s a difference between being a ‘me-first’ player, who would like to win to glorify his own cause, and a player who wants the ball in their hands to help the team win the game. TO (no championships) has proven to be the former while Ray Lewis and Jerry Rice (several championships) are the latter.
- The fact is Dallas and Philly already tried your idea.
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March 10th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Hey Mark: I’m in your camp, and no I’m neither insane nor smoking anything illegal, but it’s tough to argue that another receiving threat would have hurt us last year. Granted, acquiring T.O. would have been a risk, but I think it was relatively small considering his “1st year” track record; remember, no risk-no reward. Regardless, I sure hope the Ravens find another receiver to help Flacco. In a league geared towards offense, I really enjoy watching offensive TD’s.