Owens on Owens

After 14 years of being misunderstood by teammates, fans and the general public, Terrell Owens sits down and opens up to the one person who knows him best—himself.

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Both Jackson and Williams are ensuring that Owens’ success eclipses the allotted 15 minutes. Already picked up for a second season, The T.O. Show follows Owens on his day-to-day life away from the field and offers viewers a unique and candid side of the game-breaking wide receiver. As Owens’ expansive persona continues to become highly marketable via reality television, Twitter and revealing billboards, he is progressively losing ground with a more familiar demographic.

Two days before Owens sat on the plush, beige couch and made the usually silver-tongued Wendy Williams stumble over her prepared questions, he went head-to-head against the Rex Ryan-orchestrated Gang Green defense of the New York Jets. There was no warm, flowery greeting awaiting Owens and his fellow Buffalo Bills in the Week 6 contest at The Meadowlands. Jeers rained down from the hecklers in the nosebleed seats and those behind the visitors’ bench. In previous seasons, Owens graciously played the role of the grinning villain to opposing crowds before erasing the defensive coordinator’s scheme en route to the end zone. Now, he favors a humbled man barely able to get in tune with the rest of the offense.

“I feel like I’m still the same player,” Owens protests. “The numbers aren’t where they need to be. It’s tough when defensive coordinators double team and focus on taking me out of the game. It puts more pressure on Trent [Edwards] to get the ball elsewhere. Given the right situation, scheme and being utilized like I was in the past, then obviously my numbers would be up.”

The Bills rallied in overtime to eke past the Jets with a 16-13 victory, but the final score was not the only number analyzed. In the critical arena of football fandom, perception is reality. Owens’ meager tally of three catches for 13 yards and no touchdowns versus the Jets only suggests to detractors that his star is fading fast. At the six week mark of the season, Owens amassed 15 receptions for 215 yards that culminating in one gilded trip to the end zone. For the first time since the inception of fantasy football, his stock is on a steady decline. The vast universe of sports blogs flooding the Internet echoed the same opinion regarding his statistical anomaly—off the field fame is the distraction. Owens remained unflappable while under fire from his printed naysayers and armchair quarterbacks. Even as Tuesday morning’s rumors of a possible mid-season trade signal his early departure from the Bills, his rhetoric conveys that football is the primary objective.