Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - TO throws another temper tantrum and leaves camp

spectre · 08-10-2005, 02:48 PM

Yet another update:

Quote:

Owens asked not to come back for a week
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- All-Pro wide receiver Terrell Owens left Philadelphia Eagles training camp Wednesday after a heated exchange with coach Andy Reid.

Reid asked the injured Owens to leave after their discussion, according to Owens' publicist, Kim Etheredge. She said Owens was asked to return next Wednesday and had gone to his home in New Jersey.

"I got sent home until Wednesday for whatever reason," Owens told Comcast SportsNet for a TV interview from his front lawn. "It was just a difference of opinion. I was defending myself."

Comcast SportsNet reported the disagreement occurred during a team meeting. Owens then got his belongings and cleared out of training camp at Lehigh University.

"T.O. was asked to leave by Andy Reid," Etheredge said. "I don't think that it was heated, it was a difference of opinion. I don't know if there was an argument."

Owens did not say what the argument was about.

"If the truth needs to be told, then that's what I'll do," Owens said. "If he [Reid] wants me to be a man about it and have me really go on the air and really tell the people what happened, then I can. It was a difference of opinion."

Eagles spokesman Derek Boyko had no comment. Drew Rosenhaus, Owens' agent, did not immediately return several messages left on his phones.

Owens is unhappy the Eagles have refused to redo his contract as he enters the second season of a seven-year, $48.97 million deal. He hired Rosenhaus and threatened to skip camp completely. Instead, Owens reported, then injured his groin last Thursday.

He was day to day and the injury wasn't considered serious, but he missed practice Wednesday for the fifth time in six days.

Owens worked out with the team's assistant trainer for about 20 minutes on a separate playing field from his teammates, catching balls from a machine and doing some light running. He did not speak to reporters or acknowledge the fans who chanted his name.

Owens also skipped a scheduled autograph session with the rest of the Eagles' receivers after practice.

"He was unable to attend because he was injured," Etheredge said.

Owens said the fans have been great, but he didn't sign autographs at the tent because he was rehabbing his groin. He also said he was having fun at camp, even if it didn't look that way.

Since arriving at camp Owens has been distant on the field with his teammates. After signing autographs and slapping hands with fans on a nearly daily basis at last year's camp, Owens has jogged on and off the practice field without much acknowledgment of their chants and screams of support.

"Just because I don't talk to everybody, that's up to me," Owens said. "Everybody needs to understand the situation is all business, it's nothing personal. The situation is between me and management. They know what's going on.

"I think some people are kind of ticked off because I haven't really said much. They don't pay me to go in there and talk to everybody and be friendly to everybody. They paid me to play and they paid me to perform. That's what I've been going in there and doing."

The Eagles had a special teams practice Wednesday afternoon and Owens was not required to attend.

Last season, Owens had 77 receptions for 1,200 yards and a franchise-record 14 touchdowns before severely injuring his ankle late in the season. He missed the final two regular-season games and the first two playoff games before returning for the Super Bowl, in which he had nine receptions for 122 yards.

While Owens has been an off-field distraction, the Eagles sorely need his production. Todd Pinkston is on injured reserve and out for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon, and the rest of the wide receivers -- Greg Lewis, Billy McMullen, and Reggie Brown -- are young and inexperienced.