Terrell Owens: “I’m Trying to Be a Better Teammate and Not Try to Throw People Under the Bus”
September 29, 2009 – 10:00 am by Jimmy Shapiro
This post was written by Chris Fedor of WKNR in Cleveland. Terrell Owens is back in the media again. This is not surprising if you think about the things that have happened in the past. It happened in San Francisco, it happened in Philadelphia, and it happened in Dallas. However I’m not entirely sure that this was really vintage T.O. He has said much more disparaging things than what he said this past weekend after the loss to New Orleans. It was a situation where a reporter was baiting him into saying something negative. However, T.O. kept his cool and didn’t take the bait this time. However he still made headlines. On top of that, Rodney Harrison from NBC’s Football Night in America called him a “clown” after Owens’ remarks in his press conference. Owens did not appreciate that and fired back on Twitter about Rodney Harrison using a performance enhancer when he played in the NFL.
So here we are. Owens is with a brand new football team, a team that is 1-2, and following a week three loss he is in the spotlight again for all the wrong reasons. Not for making a game-winning touchdown grab, having his first 100-yard game in a Bills uniform or anything like that. It’s because of a post-game press conference. And even though his remarks were not as bad as they have been in the past, he’s in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Get your popcorn ready because this may just be the start of another rocky season for Owens.
Terrell Owens joined The Two Live Stews on 790 the Zone in Atlanta to talk about being baited in his press conference, losing his consecutive receptions streak this past weekend and his reaction to the comments made by Rodney Harrison.
On being baited by the media in interviews or press conferences:
“Well, it just really shows the angle that the media has taken over these years. Over the years I’ve always kind of spoken openly about whatever is being asked and what not. Over the last four or five years I’ve kind of noticed that and have tried taking some steps to prevent some of those of things from happening. Yesterday, as you saw, they took more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I’ve been on I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to media interviews that I’ve done and things kind of getting taken out of context. It created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I’ve tried to do interviews one on one with different people just to explain myself or defend myself in whatever has been said whether its been anonymously or whether it’s been taken out of context or misconstrued in my interviews. I’m just trying to do the best job that I can do as far as answering the questions and just trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus.”
On trying to avoid interviews:
“I knew the angle that they were trying to go with the questions. The last couple of games I haven’t done interviews because I’ve done interviews where I’ve been kind of tongue and cheek, been playful with the interview and again the media has taken those things and misconstrued them and taken them out of context. I was just going to try and take myself out of the situation and not do interviews at all until I had the talk with (NFL senior vice president of public relations) Greg Aiello and kind of got into a heated discussion with him as far as my stance on not doing postgame interviews because I’m not trying to go down the same road that I’ve been down before. I took the initiative and they told me that I kind of had to talk the postgame. I just went in there and did the best job that I could do without creating any type of media headlines and obviously with what I did yesterday, that created some headlines.”
On his streak of consecutive games with a catch ending:
“I really didn’t pay attention to it. I didn’t notice it until probably late in the game or a game or two before when they said I was in a streak with so many games with a catch in a game. Obviously towards the end of the game I knew that was obviously going to be the case. It’s really not so much the streak that’s bothering me. I just felt like I didn’t have a chance or give our team an opportunity to help win the game. Obviously we were in the game. We played a great New Orleans Saints team, we had them 10-7 in the third quarter and I think our defense played their tails off. I think from an offensive standpoint and me obviously being a weapon and one of the reason they brought me here, myself and Lee Evans, we just got to execute more. If I get one hand on the ball or whatnot everyone expects me to pull out a miraculous catch. Wherever I’ve been, the system that I’ve played in, it’s been predicated on precision and timing. That’s what I’m used to. What we have with myself, Lee, the running backs that we have with Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson, our offense can be explosive. We just have to execute more and that’s going to come more and more with practice. Obviously the games that we have played we’ve been right there. We could easily be 2-1 right now instead of 1-2. So we just have to keep plugging away and keep staying positive. I’m trying to do my best to be positive even with the things that I know I’m obligated to do as far as media interviews and things of that nature. I’m trying to be positive and I tried to be positive by taking myself out of that situation. Than when I don’t talk that’s still making headlines. I’m just trying to find an even keel and be the best person that I can be in the locker room and on the field.
On the comments Rodney Harrison made about him:
“My thing is I don’t know where that is coming from, the jealousy, whatever the case may be. He has the platform to call me a clown on national TV and I have a platform using Twitter to respond to that. This game shouldn’t be based on people using drugs to get an advantage, whether it’s HGH or steroids. I was saying steroids and then people were telling me no, it was HGH. I stand corrected. It was HGH and not steroids. I guess HGH is the thing to use that’s legal. Not by my standards that I know of. Those guys have a platform and they use that to say whatever they have to say about me and he’s not the only one. Other than that I don’t feel like someone like that can really comment on somebody when you’ve used a substance such as HGH to move ahead and if you want to use the excuse that it was used to help you recover from an injury, why not buy a hyperbaric chamber like I did? I came back from my injury from a broken leg and all the ligaments in my ankle torn in like six and a half or seven weeks. That was purely done by my faith in God that I could get back and I didn’t use any performance enhancing substance to get back on that field. Obviously a guy like that has some Super Bowl rings so I guess he can stand on those rings and feel the need to talk down about a person like myself. Other than that, he doesn’t make my career by any means. I think the things that I’ve done on the football field speak for themselves and they’ve obviously been a product of hard work.”
Listen to Terrell Owens with the Two Live Stews on 790 the Zone in Atlanta
Tags: Buffalo Bills, Rodney Harrison, Terrell Owens, Terrell Owens consecutive games with a catch streak ends, TO, TO feuds with Rodney Harrison
