T.O. sounds off
Terrell Owens had some things to get off his chest, and he used "The Two Live Stews'' show on Sporting News Radio to vent on Monday.
The show's hosts, brothers Doug and Ryan Stewart, asked Owens about the line of questioning directed at him after the Buffalo Bills' 27-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Owens suggested that the media was baiting him to say something controversial.
"It really just shows you the angle that the media has taken all these years,'' Owens told the Stews. "Over the years I've always kind of spoken openly about whatever is being asked with my answers, so the last four or five years I've kind of noticed that and tried taking some steps to prevent some of those things happening.
"But [Sunday] as you saw, ... [the media] took some more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I've been on, I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to the media interviews that I've done and things kind of taken out of context, and they created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I'm just trying to do the best job I can do as far as answering the questions and trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus.''
Owens was reprimanded by the NFL for blowing off the media after the first two games, but he said he did it because earlier comments he said were made in jest got blown up into bigger stories than they should have. He's referring to statements made about the no-huddle offense to the Patriots media and when he told Bills reporters recently that quarterback Trent Edwards "has to better assess what he's seeing out there and take some shots down the field.''
Owens also was asked about former safety Patriots Rodney Harrison, who now works as an NBC studio analysis on Sunday Night Football. On the pre-game show, Harrison called Owens "a clown" and said Owens is only interested in individual statistics and not team success.
Owens shot back on his Twitter account by referring to Harrison's suspension for taking human growth hormone or HGH. Owens didn't let up when addressing the situation on "The Two Live Stews.''
"I don't feel that someone like that can comment on somebody when you use a substance such as HGH to move ahead,'' Owens said. "If you want to say that you used it to recover from an injury, why not buy a hyperbaric chamber like I did. I came back from a broken leg and all the ligaments in my ankle torn in 6 1/2, seven weeks, and that was purely done by one, my faith in God that I could get back and I didn't use any performance-enhancing substance to get back on the field.''
Maybe some of the things Owens has said over the years have been taken out of context or blown out of proportion as he says. But he's the one who created the image and reputation of being outspoken by saying outlandish things.
Perhaps he has turned over a new leaf. Perhaps he is trying to be a better teammate and being more politically correct with his statements. But you have to wonder if he'll continue to hold his tongue if the Bills don't get him more involved on offense.
---Allen Wilson
