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Cowboys coach has high praise for Owens
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Thursday, Sep 04, 2008
BEREA: Humble.
The dictionary says it means ''not proud or arrogant; modest.''
Clearly, this is not a word one would expect to hear referring to Terrell Owens, the standout receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.
But that's the word Browns running back Jamal Lewis used to describe Owens. The two cross paths often in the offseason in Atlanta, where Lewis lives.
''He's a good guy, a quiet guy you'll see out every now and then. A humble guy, also. And just a hard worker,'' Lewis said as the Browns prepared to face the Cowboys in the season opener Sunday.
Humble?
Terrell Owens?
Humble?
''You see [Owens] when that camera is on your face,'' Lewis said. ''When the camera is on your face that's a different story. That's what he does.
''He likes the spotlight. He likes the camera.''
To say the least.
So apparently there is the public T.O. and the private T.O. The public T.O. is loud, boisterous, celebratory and demonstrative.
The private T.O. is ''humble.''
This week, though, the roles apparently are reversed.
Speaking on Wednesday on a conference call with the Cleveland media, Owens was very vanilla when talking about the Browns secondary. This unit will feature two starters at cornerback who have 15 starts between them, which is the same number of touchdowns Owens caught last season with the Cowboys.
This is the kind of matchup that offensive coordinators seek. The kind that has ''mismatch'' written all over it.
Owens' thoughts?
''We just have to go out and execute offensively and try to put some points on the board,'' Owens said.
And: ''Every game presents an opportunity. It's not a matter of them being young or inexperienced. If they're in the National Football League, they can play.''
And then he said: ''It's not a matter of me trying to take advantage of inexperience. It's a matter of me executing and doing what I do best.''
Privately, though, Owens has been talking a different tale. Word is he has let it be known to players around the league how much he has been looking forward to playing the Browns secondary.
If Owens has any hubris, it's justified.
He has been one of the NFL's best players for the past decade. Last season he caught 81 passes for 1,355 yards and 15 touchdowns.
In two seasons with the Cowboys, he has caught 28 touchdowns.
In the Browns' season opener last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers started the game throwing to Hines Ward. Ward is a standout receiver, but he also was facing Eric Wright, a rookie making his first start.
Sunday, it will be Owens against Brandon McDonald, who plays right corner, or Wright, who plays left.
''I'm looking for every challenge I can get,'' McDonald said.
He's got it.
To assess the magnitude of the challenge, McDonald need only go back to the last time Owens was in Cleveland Browns Stadium. That was in 2004, Butch Davis' last season as Browns coach.
Owens caught four passes that day for 109 yards and two touchdowns. After one score, he fired the ball at a sign that read ''T.O. has B.O.'' and then ripped the sign down.
The Philadelphia Eagles won in overtime, and the Browns went into a spiral from which they never recovered.
The Eagles went to the Super Bowl, but the next training camp he got into a contract squabble and never really has lived down being filmed doing sit-ups in his driveway while his teammates practiced.
Browns center Hank Fraley was on that Eagles team with Owens.
''He was a good teammate,'' Fraley said of Owens. ''To be honest, I don't know what went wrong, but I try to stay out of the politics of any situation.''
Owens wound up with the Cowboys, a place where Jerry Jones welcomes reclamation projects.
''He does all the right things,'' Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said of Owens. ''I couldn't be more pleased with the guy.''
The Eagles might disagree that he does everything right, but even in the year when Owens was jettisoned, he was having an outstanding season, with 763 yards and six touchdowns in six games.
Those are the numbers the Browns have to know.
Because no matter what Owens says or what anyone says about him, the Cowboys' hopes rest with him this weekend.
Potential hall of fame receiver. Two inexperienced cornerbacks.
It sure seems like the Browns will be the humble guys this weekend.
Because this is the kind of game in which a player like Terrell Owens should excel.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
BEREA: Humble.
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