03.09.09 OWENS SIGNING WAS SENSIBLE, WEIRD

The big news over the weekend must have been Terrell Owens’ one-year, $6.5 million deal with Ralph Wilson’s Football Siberia Bills. The signing, which allegedly occurred shortly after Owens stepped off the plane, was reflective of the bear market that Owens faced in free agency, but also reflected the need of a perennial 7-9 team to load up a weapon not only for the field, but also the ticket office. Given the fact that it takes Owens at least a couple years to piss off everyone around him, the deal seems sensible enough, so much that The Fifth Down asked the New York Jets how they could fall short in the TO Sweepstakes:

“What message are we sending to the team if it signed Owens?” the Jets official said.

You are telling the team the same thing you told it last summer when you cut Pennington and traded for Brett Favre: we’re trying to give ourselves the best chance to win. The more important question is what are you telling the team by not going after an elite receiver, then watching him land in your backyard..

Still, how weird is it to see him in a Buffalo Bills hat? I played as the Bills in Madden 2005 once and traded for Owens in midseason. The next day, my mother died. I never said it was an interesting story.