If you ask me, the Oakland Raiders should acquire wide receiver Terrell Owens immediately, if the price is right. T.O. has something to prove to himself and the league, that he can still play professional football at a high performance level. The Raiders need to prove their passing game is just as dangerous as their running game with Darren McFadden. The two simply need each other in order to succeed.
T.O. played for the Cincinnati Bengals last season, yes, the same team where quarterback Carson Palmer played. He had 73 receptions for 983 yards and 9 touchdowns, leading the team in all categories, a team with Chad Ochocinco no less.
He tore his ACL during the preseason lockout, first major injury in 15 season, and held a special edition workout in Los Angeles to show that after six months he's healed and ready to contribute to a teams passing game. All 32 teams were invited to the workout. Zilch showed up.
Raiders coach Hue Jackson has said they're not interested in Owens. Come'on Hue, our team just got embarrassed by our division's last place Kansas City Chiefs 28-0, partly because McFadden left the game early with an ankle injury. If you don't think a Terrell Owens/Carson Palmer duo won't add star quality and free up our younger talent to make plays, then just look at the game he had last season against the Cleveland Browns (10 rec 222 yds 1 td).
Maybe after 15 years of playing pro ball T.O. is no longer T.O.. But you don't pass up an opportunity to find out, not when the Raiders could use someone with his competitiveness. That's one thing that T.O. has never lacked, competitiveness. Can you honestly say the same for these Raiders receivers who've spent as much time on IR as on the field:
Chaz Schilienz
Louis Murphy
Darrius Heyward-Bey
Come on Raiders, do it for AL!
It wouldn't hurt to add a talented WR to the mix but would Carson and the Raiders want the headache of a TO in the huddle and locker room? To think he's a changed man, that's what every team that has picked him up hoped he was. Every stop along the way he was the same guy. You guys have a good thing going and good chemistry. I'd hate to mess with that. Worth the gamble?
ReplyDeleteThanks for talking some sense into my desperate thoughts. Today the Raiders signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh and I'm viewing it as a better pickup than Terrell Owens. T.O. might be the better wide receiver, but as you stated, the "postential" negative baggage he brings could throw off our winning chemistry. Took too long for us to get back to winning.
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