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It's hard to imagine Parcells, Jones, T.O. getting along

Not long after Terrell Owens' suspension and deactivation by the Philadelphia Eagles was upheld by an arbitrator late last season, the Dallas Cowboys' owner, Jerry Jones, let the pro football world know that Owens, for all his past sins in Philadelphia and San Francisco, would be welcome on the Dallas ranch.

"In general, I am a risk-taker," Jones told the Dallas radio station KTCK. "I probably have a propensity to try and make things work."

And over the weekend, Jones took that risk, hoping to co-exist with Owens' propensity to try and make things worse. At liberty after his Eagles' good-riddance release, Owens signed a three-year contract with the Cowboys reportedly worth US$25 million -- US$10 million in bonuses and salary this year, US$8 million next year, US$7 million in 2008. He also promised to be on his best behavior.

"I'll be a better teammate, a better person, a better man in life," he said at a news conference on Saturday.

Turning to Jones later, he said: "Jerry, I know what's expected of me. I won't let you down."

But more than promising to be a better everything for Jones, the wide receiver known as T.O. must also be a better everything for coach Bill Parcells, the man in the middle of what could be a tempestuous triangle. Parcells, not Jones, will be working with T.O. on virtually a daily basis. T.O. has to know what Parcells expects of him. He can't let Parcells down.

Parcells, on vacation in Florida, was not at Saturday's news conference at the Cowboys' complex in Irving, Texas.

"This was not me selling Bill, this was not Bill selling me," Jones said. "This was us taking advantage of getting an outstanding player. Bill has coached a lot of players that, quote-unquote, have the perception that they might not fit in with team chemistry."

One of those quote-unquote players was Bryan Cox, an inflammable linebacker who over seven seasons with the Dolphins and the Bears was fined more than US$120,000 by the National Football League for obscene gestures, helmet-throwing, spitting and other ungentlemanly misdeeds. He had been released by the Bears when Parcells, then the Jets' coach, signed him during the 1998 training camp.

"The Jets," Parcells said at the time, "need somebody with a little fire."

Except for his late-season US$10,000 fine for unnecessary roughness, Cox' fire was an exemplary addition to a Jets team that went to the American Football Conference championship game that season. He emerged as a locker-room leader who scolded some teammates on the sideline.

He's now a rookie assistant with the Jets. But to liken Parcells' relationship with Cox to his relationship with Owens isn't correct. Parcells knew Cox as a good guy; he had met him at Gulfstream Park, where Cox owned racehorses. Parcells doesn't know Owens. All he knows is what everybody else knows: Owens has been a showboat and a locker-room poison.

Never mind that T.O. desecrated the Cowboys' star at midfield in Texas Stadium during a 2000 game by preening on it after two touchdown catches for the 49ers; after the second, he was leveled by Cowboys safety George Teague.

That soon will be forgotten if Owens returns to his Pro Bowl form in catching Drew Bledsoe's passes. Now 32, T.O., if he's at his best, can still play -- really play. But last season he was troubled by a groin problem that Andy Reid, the Eagles' coach, described as chronic.

T.O. also has a chronic arrogance problem that can change the perception of him from one of pro football's best pass-catchers to one of its least appealing performers.

He left the 49ers under clouds of controversy -- snarling at coaches on the sideline, demanding a trade. With the Eagles in 2004, he was soon a Philadelphia favorite. He caught nine passes for 122 yards in the Eagles' 24-21 loss to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX.
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