THE BIRD BLOG

Some thoughts on the T.O. Factor …

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It looks like the Terrell Owens-49ers-Ravens-Eagles saga has closed the final chapter, and the Eagles are set to move on with their new superstar wide receiver. The critical reaction to the process by which T.O. became an Eagle is overwhelmingly negative: CNNSI’s Peter King thinks the Ravens got a raw deal, which is a fair assessment. Certainly, the once-proud 49ers organization deserves blame for the mess: by publicly negotiating with the Eagles, the team T.O. wanted and then covertly inking a deal with the Ravens, perhaps the one team in the NFL T.O. didn’t want to go to, it feels like the ‘Niners were trying to antagonize him.

The hype is already building about the Ravens-Eagles preseason game on August 20 at 8:00 PM. The Eagles and Ravens are slated to play again at the Linc sometime during the 2004 season as well. Unfortunately for T.O., the Eagles and 49ers don’t play a regular season game until next year, and the Eagles won’t be journeying to the stadium-formerly-known-as-Candlestick until 2008. Playoffs? With the Niners management, fat chance that the Eagles are going to see the T.O.’s old team in the playoffs any time soon.

What are the T.O.-led Eagles going to look like? It is an intriguing question. Don Banks rated T.O.’s impact on the Eagles as a 9 out of 10. The reason for that is simple: T.O. is a massive upgrade from what Donovan has had to throw to in his five seasons as the Eagles starting quarterback. The bottom line was that the Eagles wide-out corps hardly struck fear into the hearts of opponents: they caught half as many touchdowns (5) as the Eagles running backs (10) did last season:

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The Eagles have lacked a true game-breaker on the outside for years. In 2003 Thrash, Pinkston, Mitchell, McMullen and Lewis combined to snare just 127 passes, a mere 27 more than running backs Ritchie, Staley, Buckhalter and Westbrook. Add L.J. Smith and Chad Lewis to the backs totals, and the Eagles wide-outs caught 23 fewer passes and seven fewer touchdowns. I also note that the wide-outs yardage lead was fairly small too: 1,728 yards to 1,546 yards. While Pinkston, who played well against the Packers in the playoff game, seemed to improve late in the season with big games against Miami, San Francisco and Washington (10 catches for 273 yards), the Eagles receivers never really dominated a game.

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In the Eagles West Coast system, with its emphasis on spreading the ball around, this lack of production isn’t a big problem, but the failure of the Eagles to have a playmaker capable of stretching the field caught up to them in the NFC Championship game: Mitchell, Thrash and Pinkston combined for a paltry five catches for 47 yards. They often seemed intimidated by the Panthers defensive backs and poorly run routes contributed to at least two of McNabb’s three interceptions. With the Panthers defense playing short to bunch up the run, the Eagles never got on track and failed to win their third straight NFC title game.

Owens is an impact player, of that there is no doubt. At 6-3, 226, T.O. is the prototypical “big” receiver capable of running through arm tackles:

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Big and fast, a unique combination of speed and power, T.O. is utterly unlike Mitchell, Thrash or Pinkston. He’s significantly taller and heavier than Mitchell and Thrash, and much bigger than Pinkston (who is only an inch shorter). It seems unlikely that he’ll be roughed up like the Eagles receivers were in the NFC title game.

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T.O.’s skills have shown up on the playing field: T.O. has registered seven consecutive seasons with at least sixty catches, four straight years with over 1,000 receiving yards, and his injury in the Eagles game prevented him from a chance at having a fourth consecutive season with ten or more touchdowns. T.O. has also come up big in the playoffs: 9 catches, 177 yards and two touchdowns in the Niners stunning upset of the Giants in 2002, and he made the big touchdown catch in traffic as time expired against the Packers in the 1998 playoffs. The Eagles finally have an impact kind of guy.

What are the knocks against Owens? His attitude has been complained about, and here having a leader like Duce Staley keeping him in line would be helpful. However, the Eagles team-first philosophy and Reid’s steady hand should keep him satisfied. Nothing makes a player happier than winning, and the fact that the Eagles rescued him from a fate worse than death (a.k.a. playing with the Ravens) should make T.O. grateful.

One thing of note: I think T.O. isn’t given enough credit for having sure hands: he hasn’t fumbled in three seasons.

With T.O. on the outside he’ll probably draw double-teams or increased safety attention, which will open up the rest of the field for Pinkston and Mitchell. (Thrash’s days seem numbered). Meanwhile, will find themselves trying to cover Westbrook and L.J. Smith will linebackers, a difficult proposition, particularly near the goal line. Indeed, the player who could benefit most from T.O. could be L.J. and Chad Lewis, who will find openings in the red zone with defenses keying in on Owens.

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This is definitely a new era for the Eagles. It will be interesting to see how much McNabb’s numbers improve with T.O. stretching the field. Does T.O. mean an automatic Super Bowl berth for the Eagles? We’ll see …