Go To the Eagle!

He did it for the 49ers when they played the evil Cowboys.



He did it for the Eagles when they played the evil Cowboys.

He has demonstrated that he will lead the charge to piss off the rival in their stadium.

Now, T.O. I am begging you.

Do it to them.

Catch that touchdown. Take it to midfield. Spread your arms. And look to the sky. It may open up a war with 70,000 mutants, but I will be happy.

Prove to the Cowboys that you are worth the trouble.

Philly paper believes in emotional factor …I do, too…

On paper, Dallas looks better than the Eagles right now, but it might not matter.
It might not matter that, when healthy, Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn are the best receiving duo in the league not named Wayne and Harrison. It might not matter that the Cowboys actually have an effective running game with the speedy Julius Jones and the workhorse Marion Barber. It might not matter that the Cowboys' cover guys have the Eagles really, really worried.

None if it might matter, because in rivalry games like these - especially ones that have the additional hook Owens will provide - emotion often trumps talent. Let the paper fly through the air like confetti, because paper won't determine the winner of this one. Emotion will.

And make no mistake, be it good or be it bad, the atmosphere Sunday inside Lincoln Financial Field - heck, in all of South Philly - will be like nothing we've seen there in a while. It's the Cowboys. It's Owens.

"It's going to be wild," Brian Dawkins said.

Eagles home games always are crazy. Fans here have a well-earned reputation for being brutal, nasty, passionate and creative, the NFC's version of those of the Oakland Raiders, minus the black face paint. They say anything. They do anything. They can be crude, and cruel.

How players feel about playing here depends on what jersey they wear. The home team loves it. The visiting team doesn't. It's kind of how fans feel about Owens. If he's on your team, you love him. If he's not, you loathe him. It's as simple as that.

John McLain looks at the Eagles chances …

No matter what you think about Owens' theatrics or his penchant for becoming a disruptive force, there's no denying his marvelous ability and his determination to produce on a big stage. Owens works hard, and he has an uncanny ability to focus, no matter how much controversy is swirling around him or how much of a distraction he becomes for his teammates.

The hype over Owens' return has overshadowed the importance of the game. The Eagles are 3-1 against a weak schedule. The combined record of their four opponents — none of which has a winning record — is 4-11.

The Eagles have significant injuries on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys (2-1) are relatively healthy.

Naturally, Philadelphia fans would love to see Owens drop an easy pass early in the game. They'd get hysterical if safety Brian Dawkins obliterated Owens on a route over the middle.

In Philadelphia, it's almost inconceivable that Owens could have an outstanding game and the Cowboys could leave the stadium with a victory and a 3-1 record that would enable them to leapfrog the Eagles into first place.

Just imagine what life would be like in Philadelphia next week if it turns out that the Cowboys, not the Eagles, are invincible on Sunday.

Rich Hoffman tells Eagles fans that 2005 is not TO’s fault …wow. I trust he is not stoned for this…

The real truth: that the Eagles would have had a lousy 2005 season whether T.O. ever opened his mouth or not.

You say that to some people and they look at you as if you are a brain-dead heretic - but it was true last year and it is true now. Yes, yes, Owens split the Eagles' locker room and ruined the team's chemistry. But no, no, he did not turn them into a 6-10 team. They did that all by themselves.

The entire Eagles organization has comforted itself with the notion that a T.O.-ectomy was the most important action it took to fix things. It is all any of them talk about. They believe that Owens dragged them down and they will accept no argument to the contrary - and that verdict is pretty much unanimous.

When Donovan McNabb snarkily said, "One guy doesn't make a team. Break a team? Maybe," he was speaking for all of them. That is the Eagles' gospel.

No one wants to recognize the reality. No one wants to see that an injured quarterback and an anemic pass rush turned 2005 into a disaster. That is why the Eagles failed. T.O. provided the background music - calliope music, mostly, loud and annoying - but the collapse really occurred elsewhere. In many ways, Owens was as much of a spectator as the rest of us.

This was a 4-3 team before T.O. was banished to the land of misfit wideouts, and it was a 4-3 team on merit. This was a team that had already been smoked in a game in Dallas (33-10) and embarrassed in a game at Denver (49-21) before any of the fuses had been ignited. Owens was playing fine. The team was not.

Everything became overshadowed in the weeks that followed, with the one-game suspension, which grew into a four-game suspension, which grew into a rest-of-the-season banishment. All reality was altered from the moment T.O. did that interview with the kid from ESPN.com in which he clumsily agreed with a statement about Brett Favre made by his last media ally, ESPN's Michael Irvin, and then refused the club's insistence that he apologize directly to McNabb.

But the team just wasn't very good and it had nothing to do with Owens. McNabb had the sports hernia and his play deteriorated as the weeks rolled along. The pass rush was dismal from the beginning and it left thedefensive secondary painfully exposed.
If the T.O. business had never happened, the Eagles' record would have been what?

Maybe 8-8? Maybe 7-9? That's all you're talking about. This was not a playoff team, not last year, not even with T.O. - unless, that is, in the unlikely event that Andy Reid had chosen Owens to be the quarterback who replaced the injured McNabb, rather than the dreadful Mike McMahon.

The marquee game of the season in the NFL …

When the NFL released its 2006 schedule way back when, there were a few games worth mentioning.

Payton Manning vs. Eli Manning was cute, complete with adorable home videos of the
two quarterbacks bickering as kids.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team that knocked him out of the playoffs last season, had some juice.

But for sheer made-for-television drama, nothing until December could top Terrell Owens (and the Cowboys) in Philadelphia.

"I think the whole talk started back when he signed with them," Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said. "Everybody kind of highlighted this game."

Mike Tirico with funny error …

ESPN Monday Night Football announcer Mike Tirico has a brief message for the fans of Philadelphia. "I'm sorry for the William Penn-Ben Franklin reference," Tirico said earlier this week in a phone interview.

When ESPN showed a panoramic view of William Penn's statue atop City Hall, Tirico said: "Ben Franklin, high atop the city of Philadelphia."

While Tirico wouldn't say it, his production team at ESPN let him down. Somebody should have caught the error. Tirico won't point fingers.

"I'm the one who made the mistake, and when you are wrong you have to stand up and
admit it," he said.

So that is what the scribes think. What do I think? I think that based on my experience, there are various occasions when a crowd is so juiced that the home team cannot lose and the visiting team has no chance. For instance, when the Cowboys finally had to visit Lambeau in 1996, and when the Saints re-opened the Superdome a few weeks ago. I think this may be one of those cases.

Eagles will get a defensive touchdown. Eagles 31, Cowboys 21

If I am wrong, the Cowboys have a chance to win the Super Bowl this year.

Stoops knows Vince won’t be there Saturday …

At a news conference this week, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops was innocently asked how this year's Texas offense was different.

"I don't really need to answer that for you, do I?" Stoops said in reply.

The same two teams, Oklahoma and Texas, will be back in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday. The same two head coaches. The same two snarling sides of the stadium -- half crimson, half burnt orange. The same stakes -- a leg up in the Big 12 South race and a likely boost in the national rankings.

But no Vince Young.

"There's no denying that, with Vince Young back there, things were just different," Stoops explained. "Colt McCoy has done an excellent job. But you're talking about a guy [Young] who was picked third in the NFL Draft.

"There was a different dynamic back there, which no one can deny."

The Longhorns are better in the trenches …we think…

the Longhorns don’t have the best player in the game. No one in burnt orange is as
good as Adrian Peterson. Then again, no one in college football is as good.

Have you seen some of the holes Peterson has run through?

No? That’s because some have been invisible to the naked eye. Peterson is finding a way when there is none, and he is running over defenders, pummeling and punishing as he goes.

Heck, the Sooners even have the best quarterback in the game, too. Paul Thompson was supposed to be the caretaker, the stop-gap after Rhett Bomar’s dismissal. Instead, Thompson has been as good as any quarterback in the conference. Go figure. Always good to head south of the Red River with the best player and the better quarterback, but those advantages are not enough to overcome the ones the Longhorns have.

Everywhere else, they are equal or superior to the Sooners. OU receivers vs. UT defensive backs: even.

OU offensive line vs. UT defensive line: edge to Texas.
UT receivers vs. OU defensive backs: edge to Texas.
UT offensive line vs. OU defensive line: edge to Texas.

The most glaring advantages for the Longhorns are the least sexy. Talk about the offensive and defensive lines, and you’ll put most people to sleep. But the fact is, Texas has serious talent up front. Three on offense and three on defense return from lines that were as good as any in the country a year ago.

Barry Horn on the spies in the rivalry …

I have no idea who wins Texas-OU. I really don’t think Colt McCoy is any more prepared to win this game than he was to win the Ohio State game. The good news is that Ohio State is much better than Oklahoma.

I think Texas wins, 21-17.

TCU loses again …

SALT LAKE CITY -- Plays that TCU made over and over again last season just aren't going the same way in 2006. And neither is the Horned Frogs' season.

Two long Utah completions in the second quarter should have been interceptions, TCU coach Gary Patterson said. Instead, Utes receivers gained big yards that led to points, and the result was a 20-7 Utah victory Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
At 0-2 after two Mountain West Conference games, TCU's hopes of a second consecutive league title are all but dashed, as are the lofty goals they had at the start of the season.

Quisy update …

Indiana Pacers player Stephen Jackson was hit in the mouth, struck by a car and fired a gun outside a strip club early Friday, police said.

Jackson, 28, told officers he fired his 9 mm pistol four or five times in the air in self-defense after he was punched and hit by a car outside the club, said Sgt. Matthew Mount, spokesman for the Indianapolis Police Department.

The other Pacers at the scene were Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Jimmie Hunter.

Tinsley and Daniels also had guns in their cars, and all three players had permits for the weapons, Mount said, although Daniels' permit was issued in Florida.

Bill Guerin update …

Bill Guerin tipped in a shot by Keith Tkachuk as the clock ticked toward 0:00 to give the Blues a point in the first of three games on a very difficult road trip that continues in Los Angeles and Anaheim. The goal bailed out Eric Brewer, whose turnover in his own end put San Jose ahead with 5:42 to play and seemed to doom the Blues. But San Jose got the extra point as Curtis Brown tipped in a rebound to win it for San Jose 2:12 into overtime.

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