Terrell to Chad

Born in Alexander City, AL, Terrell Owens entered UT Chattanooga in the early 1990's as a fledging swing man, a mix of forward and a big guard who was an effective rebounder and a scorer. A 6'3.5"/200 guy, Owens also was a track guy at UT Chattanooga. Being smart Terrell Owens opted to play football for the Moccasins of UTC and the rest is history. Owens will be 37 years old this early December and is in great physical condition. He still has real good top end speed but his take-off the line of scrimmage is not what it used to be. He comes out of his receiver breaks pretty well and more or less in his last few seasons has become a body pass catcher. His hands are not like they used to be and he uses his body to shield off smaller defender to make plays. He is about 220 now with a great reach but does not utilize that reach to his advantage like in prior years. Watching him closely, Owens has been dropping passes of late. He feels more comfortable catching the ball up against his body. Randy Moss is doing the same thing. Throwing him in the Bengals mix with Chad Johnson, Antonio Bryant, Matt Jones, and Andre Caldwell, the Bengals have some experienced good looking big wide outs. QB Carson Palmer has to get them the ball and the Bengals offensive line must protect Palmer with precise pocket assurance. Do not forget Carson Palmer had the serious knee injury a few season's ago vs. the Steelers and has lost some mobility. One thing Coach Marvin Lewis needs to accomplish is to not listen to the verbal rhetoric from Terrell Owens. The one positive is that Owens and Chad Johnson may neutralize themselves by rapping to each other on the sidelines. The other bright point of Owens is that he is a real good blocker in the secondary. If the Bengals develop a good running game, Owens can be a presence on running plays. The AFC North is becoming a talented conference. The Steelers can be real good when all is in order, the Ravens are on the RISE, if the Bengals can put it together, they can be dangerous, and the Browns may beat some teams they shouldn't. By the way, it is still not in me to call Chad Johnson Chad Ochocinco. He will always he Chad Johnson to me. It would be like changing the name of your golf partner from John Doe to John Snowman because he shoots so many 8's on numerous golf holes.