Now Arriving at Gate Nine: Terrell Owens

Redskins fans have seen this movie before

After the Redskins beat the Cowboys at Texas Stadium for the last time in the regular season Cowboy receiver Terrell Owens had some words for his team, that the Cowboys are not working hard enough to get the ball to him:

The Cowboys ran 58 offensive plays against the Redskins. Twenty featured Terrell Owens.

Quarterback Tony Romo threw 18 passes toward Owens, and the star receiver had two rushing attempts for 11 yards. Still, Owens thought he didn't get the ball enough in the Cowboys' loss.

"I would say no. I'm a competitor, and I want the ball," said Owens, who had seven catches for 71 yards. He also scored on a 10-yard pass in the third quarter that tied the score, 17-17.

"Everybody recognized that I wasn't really getting the ball in the first half," Owens said. "I'm pretty sure everybody watching the game recognized it, people in the stands recognized it. I think my team recognized it

"I didn't quit. I kept fighting and trying to keep running my routes and trying to get open."...

...With 10:48 left, Romo threw three straight passes at Owens. All fell incomplete as Rogers lurked nearby. The Cowboys went three-and-out and punted to the Redskins.

So I actually counted 60 plays and 20 looks for Terrell, not 58 and 20 so even if we go with the higher number and the lower percentage it is 33 percent of the Cowboys' offense moving through Terrell, this a week after getting only two catches in a win in Green Bay.

For Terrell to say quote I wasn't really getting the ball in the first half elipses I'm pretty sure everyone watching the game recognized it unquote.

Here is my by drive break down of Terrell's looks in this game, throws in Terrell's direction and carries based on the NFL.com play by play:

Quarter	Drive	Offensive plays	Directed at Terrell Owens
1	Drive one Drive two Drive three	Six Three Seven	Two Zero Three
2	Drive four Drive five Drive six	Three Three Nine	One One One
3	Drive seven Drive eight Drive nine	Five Eight Four	Three Four Zero
4	Drive 10 Drive 11	Three Nine	Three Two
Total	11 drives	60	20

That is one third people. The first half? 28 plays, 7 looks or 25 percent. Every play, especially every running play, that goes to Terrell Owens is a play that cannot go to another player. The Cowboys' problem is not that they abandoned the run in this game, that is a problem with your play calling and game management, you can fix that.

No indeed, the problem is your offense, that the offense really does go through Terrell Owens. Shut him down and the Cowboys are just a good team as we saw Sunday. Play the flip and use Terrell as a decoy to neutralize the defense's best coverage man and you have a guy pissed off at running all day for no reason and certain to mention it to the media.

It all goes down from here.



Terrell Owens and Tony Romo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images from here.