Good move for Bills bringing in T.O.?
It remains to be seen if Terrell Owens will have much effect on the Buffalo Bills’ 2009 futures odds on WagerWeb.com, but there is one thing for certain with Buffalo now: The Bills just became more interesting.
Yes, unless you have been living under a rock, you know by know that Owens signed a one-year, $6.5 million deal with Buffalo – not exactly the bright lights, big city that Owens has been used to in San Francisco, Philly and Dallas.
But he should help a middling offense that really only had one top-shelf receiving threat in Lee Evans. But because of his lack of ideal size, Evans wasn’t a type to dominate games.
Quarterback Trent Edwards was totally on board with this move.
“I was excited. I was very surprised that it happened,” Edwards said. “On the field, he’s going to create, or need, a lot of attention by the defense,” Edwards said. “That’s going to take a lot of pressure off of Lee, a lot of pressure off of our other backs and tight ends. I think he’s going to help a lot in terms of raising our competitive level off the field, too.”
Owens is coming off his ninth career 1,000 yard season in which he caught 69 passes for 1,052 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Cowboys. Those yards and touchdowns were more than Buffalo receivers Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish, James Hardy and Steve Johnson combined (they are the four main guys behind Evans). The Bills ranked 25th in the NFL last year in yards gained. And Owens’ presence should give Edwards more confidence to get the ball deep.
The Bills apparently think Dick Jauron is the perfect coach — calm but commanding — to handle Owens, and the organization is clearly fourth in line in the AFC East, so it could use a little off-field cache.
Plus SI.com’s Peter King makes a good point that Owens always has a huge first year in a new city (or as the clear-cut No. 1 WR):
With the Niners in 2001 (in the first season after Jerry Rice left), he had 93 catches for 1,412 yards and 16 touchdowns; in 2004 with the Eagles, it was 77-1,200-14 and in 2006 with Dallas it was 85-1,180-13.
So, for one year, this is worth the risk for Buffalo, which should be in the wild-card mix.
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