Terrell Owens apparently isn’t feeling any love from his quarterback. Again.
According to ESPN, Owens has expressed growing resentment toward Tony Romo and the quarterback’s close relationship with tight end Jason Witten.
Sources told ESPN’s Ed Werder that Owens believes Romo and Witten, road roommates, hold private meetings in which they draw up plays the two will use in games without incorporating Owens. The volatile wide receiver apparently believes Romo throws to Witten regardless of whether Owens is open.
This drama in Dallas comes days before Sunday night’s critical clash with the Giants. The Cowboys (8-5) are fighting for a playoff berth with games against Baltimore and Philadelphia remaining on the schedule.
“I don’t know anything about that,” coach Wade Phillips said Thursday when asked if there is a rift. “We’ve thrown for a lot of yards with a lot of players. There’s no favoritism there.”
Witten leads the Cowboys with 64 receptions for 771 yards and three touchdowns while Owens is second with 55 catches for 848 yards and nine touchdowns.
However, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Romo has thrown to Owens 87 times while targeting Witten 80 times.
Owens declined comment to ESPN. But in an appearance in New York last month, Owens told the Daily News that he was frustrated with his role and that offensive coordinator Jason Garrett had to find a way to get him more involved.
“There are a number of things that the offensive coordinator has to do to get me involved,” Owens said on Nov. 11 when the Cowboys were 5-4. “It is frustrating because I want to win and I am a competitor. I know what I’ve done in the offseason to compete and work at this level. I know my role on this team and that is to make plays, and when I am not making plays and I am not having success, then you know, I am not having fun.”
One Cowboys player told ESPN that Owens was beginning to act the way he did in San Francisco and Philadelphia when his battles with quarterbacks Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb led to major dissension. Owens’ rift with McNabb tore the Eagles apart.
“He’s insecure about it,” the Dallas player said. “The thing that bothers me more than anything about this problem is that it’s always something with him – San Fran, Philly and here. Always something. And he brings other people into it. He talks to (wide receivers) Sam Hurd and Roy Williams, who just got here and doesn’t really know these guys. T.O. talks to him and so now he probably thinks Witten politics with Tony for the ball.
“That’s so far from the truth.”
Romo has been known to go out of his way to appease Owens, but one teammate suggested that the quarterback is growing frustrated with his star receiver, although the two have not confronted one another, according to the ESPN report.
After the Steelers returned a Romo interception – on a pass intended for Witten – for the decisive touchdown in a 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh last Sunday, Owens, who was seen screaming at a Cowboys assistant coach, suggested that Romo made the wrong decision on the play.