Terrell Owens, Stimulus Package

Terrell Owens is an offensive stimulus package. With side effects.

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The man does improve offenses.

The price of movement is the headache-inducing creak of the rusty wheel. But teams with creaky, rusty wheel offenses should know this: bringing in Terrell Owens will make the thing turn. Question is, can they handle the noise?

Start by asking the people in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas. They'll each tell a similar story.

Owens is football's version of a stimulus package. Economically, a stimulus package is an injection of manufactured capital that can have implications for the future, but is designed to affect the here and now. Since Owens engineered his trade to Philadelphia six years ago, teams have been willing to overlook the potential long term downside for the immediate impact. And what an impact he's had.

The year before Owens landed in Philly, the Eagles passing offense had this line:

3,273 yards — 17 TDs — 6.8 ypa

It wasn't a high-octane attack by any means. Enter Terrell Owens. In his 14 starts the following year, not only did Philly go 13–1, look at the final passing line on the offense.

4,208 yards — 32 TDs — 7.7 ypa

The immediate dividends were a 23% increase in passing yardage and a near doubling of passing TD's, not to mention a trip to the Super Bowl. Averaging nearly a yard more per passing attempt, the Eagles also became a downfield attack.

• AccuScore projects the top ten best landing spots for Terrell Owens. Is your team one?

When Owens managed to halt the Eagles offensive wheel with his foot (in his mouth) during the 2005 season, he and agent Drew Rosenhaus put together a deal to send the surly WR to Dallas. The Cowboys were having quarterback issues when T.O. arrived, but he paid dividends.

The year before he arrived in Dallas, the passing line looked like this:

3,639 yards — 23 TDs — 7.3 ypa

The year after, Dallas had a terrible offensive line, which struggled to protect the glued-to-the-turf Drew Bledsoe. Bill Parcells, in something of an act of desperation, turned the offense over to an unknown named Tony Romo. Thankfully, the team had Owens and still improved their passing attack from the previous year. The line:

4,067 yards — 26 TDs — 8.0 ypa

People will point to Romo's good instincts, his ability to move in the pocket and extend plays or even his knowledge that a song always awaited him at home, but nothing greased his upward skid to quick success like the presence of Owens. A 9–7 team during the first tumultuous year in Dallas, the 'Boys, with a full season of Romo to Owens, jumped to 13–3 in 2007, and were a bad hold from a possible Super Bowl trip. Check the line, when the quarterback had a full season with his top wideout:

4,290 yards — 36 TDs — 8.1 ypa

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With T.O. gone, Romo's options will change.

Beyond T.O.'s proven ability to stimulate a passing game is the fact that the teams he plays for simply win. During his career, the teams that he's been on (subtracting the last nine games of his final Philly season, where he was all but embargoed from the team) have gone 124–76. His only two really bad years were the '99 and 2000 seasons in San Fran, where the team won a combined 10 games. Of course, those numbers can largely be accounted for by the franchise's forced transition from the Montana-Young era to a Jeff Garcia-led team. A quarterback was growing, and there was much rebuilding going on around Owens, a process which he soon after decided he'd never again be a part.

And look at the passing game before and after he left. In his last year in 'Frisco, this was the line:

3,566 yards — 25 TDs — 7.0 ypa

The year after Owens took his offensive stimulus package to Philly, the Niners line was this:

3,455 yards — 16 TDs (21 INT) — 6.2 ypa

It was an ugly year in San Francisco, while Philly was busy going 13–1 in the games Owens started. (They lost the final two regular season games he sat out after breaking his ankle).

But you know the rest of that story, of course. Just as you know the plot in every Owens story; great stories with bad endings.

The bottom line, however, is clear. If you can see Owens for what he is, a mercenary in a uniform, a stimulus package with taxes that may have to be paid later, then there's no reason you can't utilize him in the present. He's a few years older, but perhaps a few reasons more motivated to have a great season.

And the wheel can keep on turning. For the mean time.

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