Derrick Mason Defends T.O.

[H2o]

Ravens | Derrick Mason feels Terrell Owens can be an asset to a team

Comment (0)

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:56:57 -0400

 

Free-agent WR Terrell Owens (Bills) was defended by Baltimore Ravens WR Derrick Mason in The Sporting News, reports Jamison Hensley, of The Baltimore Sun. While Mason likely was not campaigning for Owens to join the Ravens, he stood up for the controversial receiver. "Looking at him, you can see he's in great shape, that he can still fare well and produce numbers. But now he's been treated like a scapegoat for what's happened in Buffalo; it's unfair ... He can be still an asset for some contending team," Mason said.

 

Read more: http://www.kffl.com/hotw/nfl#ixzz0s98EfLSx

 

I just want to know how Owens has been treated as a scapegoat for what happened here? Seriously. I haven't seen anyone blame Owens for last season's over all outcome. Owens is being treated the way he's being treated for his entire body of work in the NFL, not his lone year as a member of the Bills.

[silvermike]

Yeah, that's bizarre. The only thing I can imagine that he means is that GMs are saying things like "Buffalo sucked last year, TO must suck too." That doesn't make sense, but maybe it's going on? Teams are looking at our crummy offense and deciding they want no part of it.

 

That's not really what scapegoat means, but maybe he's using it wrong.

[BuffaloBill]

A very odd statement as I have not heard one comment attributing the Bills difficulties to TO. The coach, the offensive line, a bad system, poor QB play and poor decisions coming from the front office have all been called out but not TO.

[R. Rich]

Owens actually did quite well last season, given the circumstances. No he didn't put up monster numbers, but to finish w/ over 800 yds and get over 15 yds per catch w/ little in the way of production from the QBs was pretty solid. He'd be one of the last people I'd "blame" for all that went wrong in the 2009 season.

 

Now w/ that said, I believe that the Bills are best suited by developing their young WRs so that one of 'em can become a compliment to Evans and another can become a reliable slot receiver.

[Gugny]

Owens actually did quite well last season, given the circumstances. No he didn't put up monster numbers, but to finish w/ over 800 yds and get over 15 yds per catch w/ little in the way of production from the QBs was pretty solid. He'd be one of the last people I'd "blame" for all that went wrong in the 2009 season.

 

Now w/ that said, I believe that the Bills are best suited by developing their young WRs so that one of 'em can become a compliment to Evans and another can become a reliable slot receiver.

I agree on both accounts. Sure, he took a couple of games "off," but that hardly contributed to any losses. I'd say 14/16 games, he acted professionally and played pretty well. Everyone knows his hands aren't the best. His hands were terrible in Dallas, too!! But again ... his hands didn't lose any Bills games. If everyone else on the team worked as hard as T.O., we'd be perennial playoff contenders. The guy's work ethic is insane.

 

However .. it is, indeed, time to get younger at that position. As badly as I feel for Evans, in the long run, the development of the young guys is going to do a lot more for him and for the team.

 

I wish T.O. nothing but the best. Mason is an idiot.

 

Go Bills!

[Malazan]

You're expecting football players in the NFL to be grounded in reality

[Grimace]

I just spent 5 minutes trying to justify what Mason said, and it didn't work.

 

... I want to elaborate on that, but it just ... doesn't make sense. I feel dumber now.

[Rob's House]

Yeah, that's bizarre. The only thing I can imagine that he means is that GMs are saying things like "Buffalo sucked last year, TO must suck too." That doesn't make sense, but maybe it's going on? Teams are looking at our crummy offense and deciding they want no part of it.

 

That's not really what scapegoat means, but maybe he's using it wrong.

 

I've read more than a few posts on here where he hasn't necessarily been entirely blamed for the offense last year, but definitely talk about how he sucked because he didn't pick the team up and carry it on his shoulder, as though being a top receiver magically enables you to design the offense, call the plays, block for the QB, throw the ball, and catch it.

 

Like someone mentioned, he did drop a few balls and take a few plays off, but he was pretty good considering the joke of an offense he was playing in, and for the most part all I've seen is him getting trashed for it.

[C.Biscuit97]

The problem with signing TO are a few things

 

1) He is declining and can be cover one on one. He is still a specimen but he is not the dominant force he once was.

 

2) How much he will make. TO probably wants a lot more than what a team wants to pay a #2 receiver.

 

3) He still is Mount TO and almost erupted in the Tennesse game. Is it worth rolling dice and having him destroy your team?

 

4) Teams look at film. TO flat out quit on some passes or didn't try hard to fight for the ball. If I'm running a team, I'm not investing millions in a guy to not sell out for his QB.

[Doc]

It's quite possible that Mason has actually heard someone/people saying that TO was responsible for the mess in Buffalo. Even though that's a ridiculous statement, it still doesn't mean that it's not being said.

[Buftex]

Owens actually did quite well last season, given the circumstances. No he didn't put up monster numbers, but to finish w/ over 800 yds and get over 15 yds per catch w/ little in the way of production from the QBs was pretty solid. He'd be one of the last people I'd "blame" for all that went wrong in the 2009 season.

 

Now w/ that said, I believe that the Bills are best suited by developing their young WRs so that one of 'em can become a compliment to Evans and another can become a reliable slot receiver.

 

Agree with the second point...but, as for the first point: that is the problem with basing everything on stats. Sure, Owens numbers last year would be great, phenominal even, if he was Josh Reed, James Hardy, or Steve Johnson...but, he didn't really do the only thing he could do, to make his one season in Buffalo, a success...he didn't make the offense better. He didn't make his QB (any of them), Lee Evans, or the O-line look any better. And, if you actually view his performance last season, it was marred by more bad play, IMO, than good. It was the same his last year in Dallas, when the talent around him was far better.

 

It would be silly to blame him for the teams problems, and I realize nobody (except Derrick Mason perhaps) is inferring that...I just don't see that his performance was all that great.

 

Owens is supposed to be one of the very best receivers to play the game, and from what I saw, he just didn't make plays that he could/should have for the majority of the season. Ir is great that he can still get open down field...but if he can't catch the ball, so what? Great receivers make adjustments to the ball that is over/under thrown. I just didn't see that ability, or maybe it was effort, from Owens in 2009. To be perfectly honest, I kind of got the feeling that he really didn't care about the Buffalo Bills winning games last season, but was more concerned with re-habing his image, to make him more attractive to a "real" football team.

 

I don't even mean to say that Owens can't still be a good weapon for a team with a more evolved offense than what the Bills had in 2009, but the notion that he is an elite receiver is just off base. His game has been in decline for at least 3 years.

[Buftex]

The problem with signing TO are a few things

 

1) He is declining and can be cover one on one. He is still a specimen but he is not the dominant force he once was.

 

2) How much he will make. TO probably wants a lot more than what a team wants to pay a #2 receiver.

3) He still is Mount TO and almost erupted in the Tennesse game. Is it worth rolling dice and having him destroy your team?

 

4) Teams look at film. TO flat out quit on some passes or didn't try hard to fight for the ball. If I'm running a team, I'm not investing millions in a guy to not sell out for his QB.

 

To me, that was Owens finest moment in a Bills uniform. It shined the light, on the plight of the Buffalo Bills, and their long suffering fans (who deserve much better), and I think, hastened the firing of Dick Jauron.

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

My sense is there are extremists both ways that either want to defend TO as HOF talent or claim he is a cancer who hurts any team he signs with.

 

Neither is completely true.

 

TO USED to play at HOF levels but no longer is a threat to do so more than episodically.

 

However, an episode of HOF level play is far better than the best which many #2 WRs have produced in the NFL and given the right circumstances he likely is still a potent weapon.

 

Of course the wildcard is whether he is gonna be more trouble than he is worth and many observers love to point back to clear examples where TO did become a poison on SF, Philly, and even in Dallss.

 

Th stupid thing though for folks who argue that the past simply proves he is a cancer conveniently overlook the flatout fact that in order to win the love of some teammates and fans in order for him to become a cancer, past history clearly demonstrates that early in his career with a team TO is a model of productivity. In fact even if you accept the indictments of those who hated him most the story they were selling virtually guaranteed a productive TO for the Bills last year.

 

Yet, mandatory workouts had not even started when the bleaters and whiners declared TO getting an early start on bring a prima donna because he did not attend the first Bills voluntary workout (it was a bit too much real work for many of these media whiners to find out TO did not initially attend due to his longstanding commitment to be at an event where he received and award for community service.

 

Look, its the same deal this year. If someone signs TO they will definitely get a player well past his prime who cannot do what he used to on any kind of consistent basis.

 

Yet, the facts are he led the Bills despite not being an HOF level player in receptions and ypg and finished just behind Bills #1 Evans in TDs.

 

I have few problems with what he did on the field last year and actually alot more demonstrable complaints about those who whined and claimed he was a cancer than I do with any braggadocio displayed by TO last year (afterall he is an entertainer and a little arrogance is what I expect and even want due to its intimidation benefits on opposing DBs).

 

Should the Bills resign him. Probably not as one begins to play with fire with TO in his second year. However, he has not won the hearts and minds of many folks here yet and we might be able to squeeze another productive year out of him if the market drives his price down.

 

The big thing that says yes is that none of the other candidates for #2 WR have demonstrated that they can be expected to perform even remotely as well as TOs old man #s of last year (Johnson looks the best of the crew but if one looks at real world measures like receptions, yards, and games played he regressed big time last year). I like having TO back if the market drives him to us if only because even the bleats of folks who are afraid TO would take training PT from Johnson, Hardy, Easley, Parrish need to get a hold of reality and realize that if these youngsters cannot simply force the Bills braintrust to play them over a TO in decline it is questionable how good these youngsters are gonna be.

 

Given the state of accomplishments of our WRs its fine with me to bring TO in and force the young hopefuls to beat him out. One of our big problems is that for the past decade the Bills have simply given stater jobs to folks like RJ or TC (and even by his own admission to JP) that they did not earn on the field.

 

I hope we do not make this same error at #2 WR.

[Doc]

A WR can only do so much himself. You need a halfway decent QB to get him the ball, and the Bills didn't have that last year.

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

A WR can only do so much himself. You need a halfway decent QB to get him the ball, and the Bills didn't have that last year.

You also need a WR that CATCHES the ball. Funny how it worked out that after the got Trent benched he started catching balls more frequently.

 

TO gave up on too many Edwards passes and or didn't fight for the ball when he needed to.

 

You see it helps when you actually watch all of the games.

[wonderbread]

Mason would get dumped on his head by Harrison.

[stuckincincy]

Owens actually did quite well last season, given the circumstances. No he didn't put up monster numbers, but to finish w/ over 800 yds and get over 15 yds per catch w/ little in the way of production from the QBs was pretty solid. He'd be one of the last people I'd "blame" for all that went wrong in the 2009 season.

 

Now w/ that said, I believe that the Bills are best suited by developing their young WRs so that one of 'em can become a compliment to Evans and another can become a reliable slot receiver.

 

That 98 yard catch and run in the loss against JAX sure helped the average.

[Doc]

You also need a WR that CATCHES the ball. Funny how it worked out that after the got Trent benched he started catching balls more frequently.

 

TO gave up on too many Edwards passes and or didn't fight for the ball when he needed to.

 

You see it helps when you actually watch all of the games.

There's a difference between watching and seeing, George. Your silly claim that TO gave up on Trent's passes, but not Fitz', has no basis in fact.

 

And newsflash, TO has been dropping passes his whole career. If you recall, in the game that made him a star, the 1998 playoff game against the Packers, he dropped several passes before catching the game-winning TD. Yet he still ranks in the top-3 in every major receiving category in NFL history. Go figure!

[Meark]

T.O. showed no heart last year.. just gave up on plays.. end of story..

[Spiderweb]

T.O. showed no heart last year.. just gave up on plays.. end of story..

 

That's exactly what I saw far too often last year from Mr. TO "Superstar".....