Surprise teams in '09?

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by jsarno

I forsee serious issues in Buffalo for Owens. He WILL NOT stand by and be quiet when those poor qbs up there over throw him. He will cause a fuss, and will either fake an injury and not play, or will be traded away, or just flat out waste away on the bench. I am thinking it will be the injury part.
Buffalo doesn't know what they are in for. The reason they have been even mediocre is good team work, take that chemistry away and throw in a cancer, and you have a recipe for disaster.

That's really a misconception of how TO's cancer spreads (and I don't deny he is one). TO has a huge work ethic, and he always starts out by giving good praise to HIS quarterback. That's why his first year is often so good. Now in Dallas with Parcells, the injury thing came up, but that was Parcells not really wanting "the player". Everyone in Buffalo is going to give TO whatever he needs. TO also develops a click around him of players who see him as a hard working athlete who has gotten a bum rap. Buffalo has several players who will line up on that side with him. TO's cancer only starts to eat away at the team as they get so close, but never quite over the top, and he starts sending out messages of "if only I had gotten the ball that one more time we could have won that game". And by the 3rd year the teams are left with a locker room that has two camps, one supporting the QB, the other supporting TO. Of course the media feeds all of this and blows it up causing the cancer to really spread.

I say all that to again make the point that TO's presence this year will be amazingly positive for Buffalo. They may even get to the 2nd round of the playoffs, I doubt they make it to the AFC Championship, but if they can take on NE they may very well have a shot.