The absolute cheapest way for the Eagles to get rid of him would have been to trade him, but we’re already past the trade deadline. I think the collective bargaining agreement allows the team to suspend a player up to four games for conduct detrimental to the team, which is what Owens is currently suspended for. They could keep him for those four games (they don’t pay him) and then release him… he’d be a free agent in week 13 and someone would undoubtedly take a flyer on him for a playoff run. He’d make a classic Oakland Raider.
If the Eagles are feeling vindictive, they’ll find something else to suspend him for - I believe (although I’m not sure) violations of team rules fall outside the conduct detrimental suspensions. If they do that, though, they run the risk of having the suspension overturned by an arbitrator. In that case, they’d have to pay him, but he would have already missed those games, and he would have also missed the opportunity to catch on with another contender.
Or they could keep him on the roster, pay him (at around $200,000 per game) and keep him on the bench. They’d be out another $800,000, but Philly has the cap room, and it would probably be a good investment to be sure that they don’t have to face him later in the year.
It’s 4 games without pay I think… they could suspend him for longer but would have pay him.
How much say does a player have in where they’re traded? I’ve never really been clear on this. He shunned the Ravens in favor of the Eagles. Eli shunned the Chargers in favor of the Giants… if Philly traded him to Oakland and he didn’t want to go (which I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t), would he have any options other than not playing?
Seems a good fit though. Oakland is where old players go to die and troublesome players go to fade away (Yeah I’m looking at you Romo and Moss).
About fuckin’ time someone knocked this jerk down a notch. I hope they sit him the rest of the year. Hard to believe, but I’m actually looking forward to his next interview to see if any humility has set in (not holding my breath on that front). I’m very curious which team will roll the dice on him next year.
As someone who followed Randy Moss’ career pretty closely as a Vikings fan, I have to say that one thing I never remember him doing is trashing his teammates. He was allegedly a pretty good guy in the locker room. I also don’t remember him complaining about his contract. I think his rep as an asshole was greatly exaggerated and were based on about three or four incidents that were relatively minor compared to some of the stuff that’s happened with Owens.
Agreed. Owens is King when it comes to trashtalking teammates and outright assholishness. Keyshawn was Heir Apparent there for a while, but Moss was only ever a Duke in one of the lesser feifdoms.
His biggest faux pas, I think, was saying publicly that he only played when he wanted to.
My admiration for the Philadelphia front office grows each time that it administers a well-deserved punishment to Owens. I wish it were more common practice.
The only downside to all of this is that Owens may eventually grow so frustrated that he decides to express himself by recording a rap album.
Frankly, I think it’s best for the entire game of football for Owens to disappear entirely. He’s a great receiver and great players make the game fun to watch. But T.O. didn’t make football, football made him.
The only thing the NFL loses in T.O. is a famous face and the publicity that swarms about it. Warren Sapp was right in that the NFL tends to frown on individuality. Even hardcore fans would be hard pressed to recognize the faces of the vast majority of pro ball players outside of their local team. T.O. sells jerseys and he sells tickets. He’s always out there.
But he’s a poor ambassador for the game. Other than his publicity, what does the NFL stand to lose? He tried to insult Jeff Garcia by accusing him of homosexuality. He blamed McNabb for getting sick during the Superbowl (a side of sarcasm: T.O., the ever-courageous, is lauded for playing hurt in the Superbowl and turns around and accuses his obviously ill quarterback of dogging it. Very classy and, of course, logical).
Whatever. The guy isn’t going to the hall of fame and he doesn’t have what it takes to lift a team on his back and win with a hurting quarterback. He wants to be recognized as the best when he obviously is not. Tomlinson in San Diego or Brett Favre are living legends who behave with class. The NFL will be diminished without them. No T.O.? Who cares. Chad Johnson is just as clever at celebrations and is maturing much more quickly.
Fuck T.O. I wouldn’t give a damn if he never played again.
Apart from T.O., there are two active players who have passed the 100-touchdown mark. Does anyone know whether Marshall Faulk or Marvin Harrison’s 100th career touchdown received any sort of special ovation or ceremony during or directly after the game in which it occurred?
Just about everyone is dismissing Owens’ criticisms of the Eagles regarding his 100th TD, but in a country where such effort is expended on celebrating sporting milestones, it is somewhat surprising that a player’s 100th touchdown would be allowed to pass without some sort of recognition from the team.
Owens is one of only 16 players in NFL history to pass this mark, he is second among all active players, and third in NFL history in receiving (as opposed to running) TDs. That seems, by North American sporting standards, to be a pretty significant mark. So, was Owens’ attainment of this milestone treated differently by the Eagles than other arrivals at the 100 TD mark?
Note: none of this changes the fact that Owens is a complete douchebag, and i have no sympathy for him whatsoever.
I think what they decided is that it’s better to keep their other 50 players happy than ignore what Owens has done, especially since he may want to quit town no matter what.
Having seen SportsCenter’s piece about the situation, I have to admit I’m feeling more sympathetic toward the Eagles. It sounds like the other players are more upset by his comments and behavior than I’d realized. Their story also made it sound more like Owens has been playing a big passive-aggressive game this whole time (with the Favre comments and the Michael Irvin jersey and so on), which may or may not be true. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team gets a temporary boost from this suspension. That said, if they get things ironed out - though I don’t think they will - they’re a better team with him. Their QB is hurt and they’re throwing the ball 75% of the time, losing their best receiver won’t cure any of those things. But who knows, they’ve underachieved for weeks and maybe this will really help in the short term.
So have my Giants, but your “decade” is giving double the credit to the Eagles they deserve.
For the four seasons between 2001-2004 inclusive, the Eagles have owned the Giants along with the rest of the division. But the Giants beat them 9 games straight prior to 2001, culminating in the 3-0 performance against them in the three games they met in 2000, the last one in the postseason.
IIRC, we have not beaten the Eagles since that 2000 playoff game. (Nice interception, Sehorn!) That would make it 8 straight losses after 9 straight wins.
Well, the worm has turned. Buckle in for a long string of losses to the Giants, Eagle fans. Maybe after Eli retires?
If they benched him, I have no doubt that they’d soon have a valid reason for suspending him. Either he’d walk off the field in the middle of the game or he’d refuse to suit up. Guys like him just cannot sit on a bench too long or the two brain cells in his head will think of some way to disrupt his team. I doubt it would take more than one or two games for him to self-destruct. And I just hope I’m watching when he does.
1, he didn’t run anyone over. It’s hard to run someone over when they’re sitting on your hood and you’re moving at slower than a walk. 2, it was a traffic control officer, not a cop, not a member of the Minneapolis Police Department. And 3, it was a gifuckinghugeous SUV, not a car.
Therefore, I rest my case.
mhendo, I was at the Metrodome when Cris Carter had his 100th TD reception in several years ago. The team had fireworks set to go off, and accidentally triggered them a split second before Carter came down with the ball in the endzone. Has anyone hit 100 more recently than that?