Are you ready for T.O.?

[stevo]

Are you ready for T.O.?

By REUBEN FRANK
phillyBurbs.com

Are you ready for T.O.?

He's ready for you.

Owens said Eagles fans made an indelible impression on him during his brief but eventful 11/2-year stay with the Eagles, and he can't wait to come back to town and show everybody what they're missing.

No matter what happened since, there was something special in 2004 between the fans and Owens.

T.O... T.O., T.O., T.O ... T.O ... T.O ...

“Those are some great fans,” Owens said. “When you're there, they're going to love you. And when you're on the opposite side, they're going to pretend like they hate you. They know I was a good player there and I had a lot of fun and I interacted. I've never been in a stadium where I had the whole stadium chanting my name. That meant a lot to me. We had something special when I was there.”

And now?

“They still love me, I don't care what they say,” Owens told reporters in Dallas this week. “Those boos, they're not really boos, man. There's a lot of love in those boos. They've got no choice but to boo me because I'm on the other side. I guarantee you, if I were to get traded to the Eagles right now, they would love me.”

Owens makes his second trip back to Lincold Financial Field tomorrow night when the Cowboys face the Eagles and, no matter how much anybody tries to downplay it, the spotlight will be on Owens, who caught a club-record 14 touchdown passes and helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2004 before ego and contract issues destroyed the relationship.

Now seemingly calmed down in his 12th NFL season, Owens appears content playing second fiddle to quarterback Tony Romo, who draws the kind of media attention in Dallas that Owens got here.

“You're seeing a different T.O. right now,” Donovan McNabb said “He's staying out of the media. He's realizing that nothing really works in his favor. He's just playing football.”

The Cowboys are 6-1, with only a loss to the unbeaten Patriots marring their record. The Eagles are 3-4 and will find themselves virtually out of the playoff race if they lose this game.


“Any time I step on the field, I'm excited to play,” Owens said. “Obviously, playing against the Eagles is going to be a little different. I want to go up there and play well.”

Ironic that McNabb's relationship with Owens began deteriorating at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville after the 2005 season and began mending one year later after the Super Bowl in Miami.

McNabb and Owens, who had been through so much rancor, spoke briefly at a party, a conversation that both say went a long way toward reconciling their feud.

“I saw him at the Super Bowl,” Owens said. “It was something on my heart, to go up to him and say whatever I had to say to him, and just leave it at that. I'm not a person to really hold grudges.

“I just felt like it was a load off my chest. I just wished him well and tried to tell him keep up with the rehab he was going through with his knee and that was it. No hard feelings. ...

“I know that was a bad situation. I'm pretty sure there are things on both sides that we wish we would have done differently, for whatever reason. I know I really wasn't the sole problem. That's why it wasn't that hard for me to go up and say what I had to say, because regardless of whatever the media reported, I know I wasn't the (only) problem.”

Maybe. Maybe not.

“I don't have any regrets the way I handled it,” McNabb said. “When you look back on it, we did some great things. We put up numbers that no one ever thought we were ever going to put up — more yards and touchdowns than pretty much anybody had ever put up. Things didn't work out and we both moved on.

“We talked about different issues at the party at the Super Bowl and left it at that.''

We were able to hash out some things and move on.”

Reuben Frank: rfrank@phillyburbs.com

[Uncle B]

Thia should be a Hell of a game...Especially being in primetime..