T0 Walks out of Camp... again!

[Irn-Bru]

Some other team will pay him. He'll continue his destructive ways. In a sense, Philly got lucky that this happened before the season started. T.O. may not play for them this year, but they can start figuring out how to cope with that right now--had he stayed, it would have been a slow-working cancer in the locker-room all season long.

[hkHog]

Is there some reason he was watching Vick tonight?

[Jake]

He lives in Atlanta and the Eagles play the Ravens next week.

[MarcusBeNimble]

Is there some reason he was watching Vick tonight?

Also, this is TO were talking about here. Probably just another way or reason to show is idiotic face on tv. This saga has far and away been the soap opera i love to hate.

[Jake]

Oh yeah, they play Atlanta during Week 1.

[hkHog]

That should be a good game.

[skinsfano28]

either that or he wants to see who will be running at him--i mean throwing him the ball in the future. rumors have been circulating, as we all know, that atlanta is more than interested in TO

[NC43Hog]

TO is an undeniable talent - but why any team would want him is beyond me.

Nice article by Mike Wise.

[skinpride1]

Very sad indeed.The eagles should make a big stand against T.O.The line should be drawed somewhere and T.O. has crossed that line big time.The nfl is a pro sports league.Players should carry a good image for there fans and everyone else.This is not healthy for any team.

[cvillehog]

On PTI they said that the Iggles sent T.O. a letter outlining his behavioral problems that need to be fixed. Mike and Tony said they think this is the first step in the Iggles trying to "Keyshaun" him. That is, keep him on the team (and therefore off the competition) but make him sit out the season.

[NC43Hog]

On PTI they said that the Iggles sent T.O. a letter outlining his behavioral problems that need to be fixed. Mike and Tony said they think this is the first step in the Iggles trying to "Keyshaun" him. That is, keep him on the team (and therefore off the competition) but make him sit out the season.

Let's just hope he doesn't start announcing games.

[hkHog]

A quote from an official statement on T.O.'s website. This is rich:

This situation has mushroomed far beyond what should be considered adequate coverage, and Terrell has become the media's favorite whipping boy.

No crap! Who was the one who made this a big deal in the media though?! Who's the one on TV every day bashing his teammates and coaches and the team that eventually gave him what he wanted? Donovan McNabb is no hypocrite but it is quite clear that T.O. is one of the highest order. Where does he get off, he's in complete denial. What a jerk!

[gilbertarenas]

TO is a genius; everyone has said the Eagles have had all the leverage, now he has caused the biggest cancer ever because he did not get a new contract. His last year with the 49ers did not warrant a big contract, but his last year in Philly did. The Eagles are big losers either way, if they pay him, if they suspend him, or if they trade him. Even if he plays, he may not run his routes hard, ect.

[1niksder]

A complete look at the situation....

By LES BOWEN

EAGLES VETERANS spent just 13 nights at Lehigh this year, before yesterday's caravan of Escalades and super-sized four-wheel-drive pickup trucks hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension, headed south.

Hard to believe you could pack that much controversy and chaos into just 13 nights. Wasn't it more like several months ago that reporters' cell phones started ringing, as Terrell Owens stalked wordlessly past them toward his dorm, dressed in camouflage and wearing headphones? The cell phones were ringing to tell the reporters they were flocking to the wrong disgruntled Eagle - obviously, Owens was there, the evening of Aug. 1, nearly an hour before the reporting deadline, just as he'd said he would be. Brian Westbrook, however, was back home in Maryland, angry that a long-term contract hadn't materialized, to replace the 1-year, restricted free-agent tender he had signed in June.

It was a confusing turn of events, and it got even more confusing by the end of last week; by then, Westbrook was in camp, not saying anything to reporters, and Owens was home, working out in the driveway and talking to anyone who would listen.

Meanwhile, has anybody even thought about Corey Simon, who apparently plans to sit out training camp before signing the 1-year, $5.13 million franchise tender? As one national football reporter, sent to Lehigh to cover the circus, said early in camp: "I've never been to a training camp where the guy designated the 'franchise player' held out and nobody even mentioned it.''

Oh, and let's not forget the whole matter of 2003 first-round draft choice and projected starting right defensive end Jerome McDougle, who was shot by armed robbers in Miami on July 28, the night before rookies reported to camp. McDougle apparently continues to recover, looking toward returning to practice around the time of the season opener, not that reporters have had time to check on him lately.

There was the drama over T.O. reporting and Westbrook not reporting. Then there was the drama over whether Westbrook would report by Aug. 8, to retain his shot at unrestricted free agency next spring. (He did, after incurring $42,000 in fines.) Somewhere in there, Todd Pinkston came dawn awkwardly, tangled with corner Matt Ware, and got up to find he was out for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon.

Correll Buckhalter, returning from right knee surgery, banged that knee into a helmet, sat out a few days, then sat out some more, then finally went to see his knee surgeon, Dr. James Andrews. The Eagles haven't said much since then; from them, no news is always bad news.

Then, last Wednesday, just when it looked like camp finally might be settling into the sort of familiar, who's-going-to-be-the-backup-tight end sort of rhythm, word leaked that Owens had been sent home for a week by coach Andy Reid, and nothing has been remotely normal since.

You had T.O. pumping iron in his driveway in Moorestown, N.J. Then you had T.O. on ESPN twice last Thursday, seemingly doing his best to erase any last, lingering shred of support he might have enjoyed. Owens complained, as he often has when controversy has swirled, that people didn't know the "whole story.''

But the whole story, as T.O. told it, wasn't terribly compelling. Quarterback Donovan McNabb was a "hypocrite'' because after McNabb said he didn't need a meeting with T.O., McNabb's brother called one of Owens' friends to try to help smooth out their differences? Offensive coordinator Brad Childress was "antagonizing'' T.O. by repeatedly saying, "Hey, Terrell?'' In the authoritarian NFL, Reid wasn't allowed to tell Owens to "shut up,'' because, "My name isn't Terrell Reid... I'm not one of his kids?'' T.O. somehow thought he deserved praise for not having spoken to Reid at all before that exchange?

Other Drew Rosenhaus clients on the team were giggling at their obviously uncomfortable agent, as he valiantly kept trying to breathe the rarified oxygen of Planet T.O., trapped on camera as his most high-profile offseason acquisition melted down in public.

Jevon Kearse tried to describe the look he saw on Rosenhaus' face, as Owens spoke: "It was like, 'OK, now I got to work a little harder.' ''

McNabb wondered aloud, "Where is this all coming from?'' during a remarkable Friday press conference in which he warned Owens to leave him and his family out of the receiver's feud with the Eagles.

Childress, the quarterbacks coach from 1999 to 2002 and the offensive coordinator ever since, never has had any sort of public disagreement with a player during his tenure with the Eagles. As he said Saturday, "If a daily 'How you doing?' or a 'What's up?' or 'How you doing, Terrell?' or 'How you doing, Jon?' is antagonistic or spiteful, then I must be on the wrong planet.''

Listening to Childress, who earlier had refused to respond to Owens' remarks, the point was driven home that there will be a lot of ground to cover when Reid meets with T.O. Wednesday, before Owens can rejoin the team. Reid said yesterday he doesn't anticipate speaking to Owens before then.

"I've got a decent reputation over the course of 25 years,'' Childress said. "I'll be coaching this game, probably, a lot longer than Terrell is playing it.''

Owens has been keeping a relatively low profile since Thursday, having gone home to Georgia on Friday. On his Web site, a statement obviously written by a publicist envisions Owens returning and having a great season. But it remains far from certain he will suit up for the Eagles again; Reid will ask for much more than the grudging, chip-on-shoulder presence Owens felt was adequate before he was sent home.

If Owens can't totally put aside his contract concerns when dealing with coaches and teammates, he'll likely be sent home again, indefinitely. When camp started, that would have seemed a drastic step to many of T.O.'s teammates, but not any more.

"Everybody wants him back, here on the team, but they want everything to go smooth, at the same time,'' said Jeremiah Trotter, who roomed with McNabb at Lehigh but has been as close to an advocate as Owens has had among the Eagles. "They know he's valuable to this team and this offense. But I always said, 'One person don't stop no train.' ''

[jazzyjimmy]

I am loving this!! T.O. definitely deserves more money than he's getting but there are two teams in the NFL that don't work like that. He must not have gotten the memo that Philly is one of them. Did you hear that he told his offensive coordinator "you do not speak to me unless I speak to you first" after a drill? He's gonna get traded and the Eagles will have NO receivers!