For Thanksgiving dessert, Terrell Owens was set to have a big helping of humble pie.
As Owens sauntered from the locker room and across the hallway to take the podium at New Meadowlands Stadium, the Bengals’ wide receiver was shaking his head in disgust. Here was Owens, soaked in cologne and with his pecs popping out of his half-zip sweater, coming to address the media once again after a week of jawing and mouthing off. He had the look of a perplexed and beaten man, far from the brash player who just a few hours earlier rolled into the stadium with his headphones blazing, cockily rolling back and forth.
Now, roughly an hour after the game, Owens was unable to come up with a viable excuse for his anemic performance in a 26-10 loss to the Jets.
Owens’ three receptions and 17 yards were season lows. More was expected against a “average” cornerback in Darrelle Revis. At least that’s how T.O. described him earlier this week. That remark came before the latest episode of “The T.Ocho Show, ” where Owens called Revis and fellow Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, “Ren & Stimpy.”
All that talk for barely any action.
“I know what type of corner Revis is. Despite me calling him average, real talk, the guy is pretty good,” Owens said. “At the same time, I did what I was supposed to do with the plays that were called.”
Revis, however, was clearly motivated by the comments made by Owens, perhaps more motivated than the Bengals were from the remarks. The Jets cornerback registered just one tackle in the game, but he limited Owens to just three catches on the eight passes thrown in his direction. It was a statement performance from the All-Pro Revis in a primetime national game.
“He called me average and today I showed him how an average corner plays,” Revis said. “The stats don’t lie, you can’t change the stats.”
And the stats say Owens struggled all night to get off “Revis Island,” being limited to just 5.7 yards per reception, nearly a third below his season average. While he acknowledged that Revis is “pretty good,” Owens continued to turn the direction of post-game comments back toward himself and the apparent slight he felt at Revis. During the postseason, Revis had called Owens, then on divisional rival Buffalo, a “slouch.”
Owens’ memory runs long, apparently longer then his game high 8-yard reception, as he was clearly still irked by the Revis remarks made months earlier.
“I’m not going to back down from anyone. The media can say what they want to say. I can play this game,” Owens said, then began a rant that included references to his mother and his grandmother. “There is a lady living in an assisted living home named Alice Black. She didn’t raise a slouch. There is a lady living in Alexander City, Alabama named Marilyn Heard. She didn’t raise a slouch.”
Maybe they missed Thursday night’s game.
“I told T.O. after he caught an 8-yard pass, ‘Hey man, don’t be shaking your head. That’s the longest catch you’ve had all day’,” Jets head coach Rex Ryan said. “That’s when I grabbed Wayne [Hunter], so he never came after me. Revis is Revis. He’s back to being Revis, the best in the league.”
