T.O. NoMo

He’s the Wolverine of professional sports; a physical phenomenon who defies the laws of the human body. He has proven doctors and trainers wrong on multiple accounts. One of his more memorable feats was when he played in Superbowl XXXIX against the Patriots with a rod in his leg and caught 9 balls for 122 yards. There was a zero percent chance that he would return to that game as he was supposed to be out of training for even a few weeks after this game. He has a slew of records and has had a remarkably productive career. Recently, he once again appears to be healthy even though he had ACL surgery in April. Essentially, 6 months after he tore his ACL, he was able to come back to adequate health and throw an “elderly” pro day for himself. No one showed up although he still looked dangerous. TO is also currently at an age when his mentor was still putting up solid numbers (Jerry Rise), and with the work ethic that he has, I foresee him having some potential upside. He is a specimen who is on the bubble of a hall of fame career and yet why has he not been picked up by any team?


Terrell Owens took the diva receiver to the next level. In the wake of Michael Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson, T.O. took the self marketing personality and turned this into an art form with some of the most flamboyant TD celebrations in NFL history. When he caught that game winning touchdown in the Wildcard playoff game against the Packers and cried right after, everyone thought that he would be a passionate, hard working, freak of nature receiver. Little did anyone know of the aftershock he would leave behind.

Who wants someone who is 36, had an array of injuries, and will surely cause a divide in your locker room. No one showed up to his pro day and no one has seemed to make a move for him. That is, besides the arena team in Chicago and T.O. likes himself way too much to play in the minors. This egotistical, arrogant receiver has created a path of destruction and at this point, his talent is not at the point where it balances out the intangibles that come along with him anymore. This cancer usually provides production, but at what cost?

T.O.’s first break out year was when Jerry Rice went down with a torn ACL in 1997. That year TO had 936 yards, then followed that with 1097 yards. There was one down year in 1999, where he 754 yards, but quickly rebounded while amassing unbelievable numbers, 1451 yards and 13 touchdowns. This is when TO truly became the piece of shit and the circus began. The following year, he broke the 1400 yard margin again and averaged a touchdown/game and ended up losing in the superbowl. He followed that with two years where he combined for 2402 yards. Even with being the teams main target, the 49’s were sinking slowly sinking. He developed the stigma that he was better than this team and wanted a better shot at the title no matter how he went about it.

Even though he had unbelievable numbers and they made the playoffs, he thought he was only a superbowl caliber player and that the rest of the 49 organization was holding him back. That offseason, he had a very tumultuous divorce with the 49’s that lead to a battle between the NFL and the NFLPA that fought on his behalf. He also refused to go to the Ravens as he felt that they were not a strong enough team for him offensively and at the same time, called his former QB Jeff Garcia a homosexual in a playboy interview. He was incinerating bridges quicker than a California Forrest Fire. Apparently, T.O. does not understand what a homosexual actually is since it is Jeff Garcia who is married to a smoking playmate and T.O. is still not married. I wonder who is truly gay? Eventually, a deal was finalized with the Eagles and the 49’s went downhill after this whole situation. T.O. had no loyalty to the team that helped develop him and now he was off to higher grounds leaving behind a sinking ship with a hole he caused.

T.O.’s first year is exactly what was expected with the super freak T.O. and a hot QB in McNabb. He had an unbelievable season with 1200 yards and 14 Touchdowns. This offensive powerhouse who also included the running styling’s of Westbrook proved too much for opposing teams. They dominated that year, but ended up falling short in the Superbowl to the Pats. That off season, T.O. was at it again. Right after the superbowl, he made the comment attacking the media that they would have given someone like Brett Favre much more praise for his bravery playing in a game of that magnitude and that injured. He also decided to focus his ignorance on his team as well and took it upon himself to break the Eagles into two. In that offseason, he fired is past agent and hired the Darth Vader of the sports world in Drew Rosenhaus. With Drew whispering illusions of grandeur in T.O.’s ear, he said that he wanted a renegotiated contract with the Eagles and indicated that they lost the Superbowl because Mcnabb was too tired. He continued his self-destruction by getting into a battle with upper management because they would not allow him to play in a basketball summer league. In all honesty, that is a little harsh by them, but if T.O. got injured, then they were shit out of luck.

As training camp drew near, T.O.’s contract negotiations heated up and eventually led to an increase of this diva. That season though, he continued to create a barrier with himself and Mcnabb while also voicing his displeasure with management. After the heads of the organization were fed up with his brashness, they decided to suspend him for four games and released him. He only had 763 yards and half as many touchdowns as the year before. He was released, but then again, was picked up by a solid team that provided the tools for him to remain a high caliber machine. Once again, T.O. was proving more and more than he was more of a hinder to a team than anything else.

Jerry Jones, known for taking risks on players with off-field issues and letting his boys be boys, signed T.O. Now, that season did not start well for him, but this time the controversy around him was not caused by his ego. Although he had a decent week one, where he had 80 yards and 1 TD, during the next week’s game, he damaged a bone in his finger. He elected to push off the surgery to the end of the season, which showed how much he wanted to play. There was a bit of caution though as he could have permanently destroyed his finger, but T.O. is tough. Luckily, they had a bye week, but during that week, T.O. accidently overmedicated and overdosed. The media speculated that he did it because he was depressed or that he wanted the attention, but it truly appears that this off field controversy which causes a team to lose focus, was not really his plan. He did not intend to OD. After the bye week, he played well against the Titans, but then he had a subpar performance against his Alma Mater, the Eagles. After the game, T.O. proved he had not change and blew up on the coaches and team, and blamed them for their loss. He made several comments referring to why the team even signed him and that they were not doing their jobs by not passing to him more.

The next three years that T.O. was with the team were extremely productive. He amassed almost 3600 receiving yards and 38 touchdowns in those three years, but by end of his tenure with the team, he started to feel unwanted due to the relationship that Romo and Witten were developing. Even though he cried, which was fucking weird I might add, when backing up his QB to the media in response to the whole bye week, Jessica Simpsons escapade, he slowly developed a dislike for his QB as he did not feel like he was being impartial with his passes. I wonder if T.O. realizes that he had 25 TD’s and over 2400 yards receiving in his last two season with Romo at the helm? He went so far as saying that there was a conspiracy with these road roommates (Witten and Romo)and that they would create plays without including T.O. Me. Me. Me. Mr. Flamboyant also often criticized Jason Garret’s play calling. Eventually, Witten tried to confront T.O. about some of his comments, which lead to a scuffle.

After a 9-7 record and being 0-2 in the playoffs with T.O. on board, Jerry Jones decided to actually cut a player for better locker room morale. T.O. officially cause a split in the locker room. It was so bad that this might have been the first time ever that JJ took a person’s character into account. They released a shocked T.O. who was picked up by the Buffalo Bills for 1 year.

While T.O. did not have as productive year as he had the previous few, he still had close to 900 yards receiving with the dismal Trent Edwards at the helm. While T.O. did not warm up to the town of Buffalo as he made some interesting comments about the city, he was unfairly targeted by the media. After a loss in which he had 0 receptions, the media was strictly asking him questions that if answered, would create more controversy. They were manipulating questions so that his answers would be used as another reason to create a monster out of T.O. Now to his credit, he did not bite, when he easily could of. While he has been an egotistical, cancerous tumor that has created inner squad turmoil, this was the first time that he was right when he made the remarks that the media was actually trying to use T.O. in order to create controversy. The media was acting like a bunch of douche bags, and T.O. was actually keeping his mouth shut.

After one season, T.O. was released by another franchise and ended up with essentially his smaller, shorter equivalent in Chad Ochocinco. This had to be the most flamboyant receiving core ever. Although this dynamic duo spoke about how they were ready to share the ball (They even gave themselves the nicknames of Batman and Robin), this team faltered and had one shitty season. Although again, T.O. had a decent year where he almost had 1000 receiving yards, the lack of winning lead him to open his mouth at the least opportune time. In December and with a 2-11 record, T.O. made the comment on Ochocinco’s show that the reason they are losing is essentially because the coaches suck. That basically, they were getting out coached and they were not making the necessary adjustments. At the end of the season, and with these comments fresh in everyone’s mind, another team threw T.O. to the curb and this offseason he had ACL surgery.

At this point, he is still in purgatory hoping that a team decides to take a chance on him. While he can be productive, he has proven that at any point he can lose that filter that pro athletes need to abide by. Another issue with T.O. is that he has people surrounding him telling him that he is still worth a lot of money, when in fact, I can’t see anyone giving him over 1 million for 1 year. At this point, he needs to realize that in order for him to get back to the league, he needs to continue to work hard, keep his mouth shut, and settle on any team and amount. He is not the same T.O. whose penalty causing extravagant TD dances were brushed aside due to the fact that he was a real gamer. This is also not the same individual who would be given several chances after attacking his teammates and coaches and ownership. I do not think he had ever had a QB, that he did not have a sideline spat with mid-game. He is not a leader that you feel comfortable with rallying a team or mentoring your young diva receivers and making them realize the negative effects of showboating. Because of these reasons, T.O. might have be out of the league the rest of the season and even might consider retiring. There is not enough left in his tank for T.O. to be T.O.