Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens spent three seasons catching passes from Tony Romo in Dallas. When news broke that his former quarterback was out at CBS Sports, he made it clear he wasn’t about to pretend it moved him.
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“I’m not surprised,” Owens said on Get To The Point. “I mean, why the hell do I care? He didn’t care when I left. He didn’t care about my departure from the Cowboys some years ago, so why in the hell would we be talking about his departure from CBS?”
On Friday, October 2, CBS Sports announced that it and Romo had “mutually agreed to part ways” after nine years with the network. He had been off the air since a July traffic stop in Wisconsin led to an arrest on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Romo pled no contest in September.
Romo addressed his departure in a statement, saying he planned to step away for now.
“I’m going to use this time to take a break, something I’ve never done before, and focus on my health and my family before moving on to my next opportunity,” Romo said.
Owens, however, went well beyond the football side of the story. He pointed to Romo’s legal trouble as the larger issue and claimed that Romo was treated more favorably than others in the business.
“He has a bigger problem, which is, you know, drinking under the influence, DUIs, things of that nature,” Owens said. “People that, you know, guys like that, they put them in high regard, high esteem. You hire him, you give him hundreds of millions of dollars. A guy like me, you don’t want to pay me $250,000, but guys like that, they go in and embarrass themselves and fail upward, right?
“I could really care less. You know, I’m not rooting for anybody’s demise or fall but again, who cares? … He hasn’t called to talk to me since I left the Cowboys.”
So far, there have been no reported incidents of Romo being involved in other DUIs. Romo, in his initial statement after the arrest, admitted that he had begun relying on alcohol to manage his reliance on pain medication.
To understand why Owens’ tone is so cold, you have to go back to Dallas. Owens signed with the Cowboys in March 2006 on a three-year, $25 million contract, the same year Romo began to get starting QB duties. The pairing was productive, but by the end of 2008, ESPN reported Owens had grown resentful of Romo’s relationship with tight end Jason Witten, believing the two were excluding him.
“Owens thinks Romo and Witten — close friends and road roommates who came to Dallas in the same offseason — hold private meetings and create plays without including Owens, according to a source who speaks regularly with Owens’ teammates,” ESPN reported. “Owens believes these discussions have worked to his detriment and Romo seeks to deliver the ball to Witten regardless of whether Owens is open.”
Owens led the Cowboys among pass catchers for the entire time he was there. But Jason Witten followed close behind in TO’s last two seasons at Dallas.
A day after Owens’ suspicion was reported, he and Witten nearly fought with each other, according to ESPN. The former had tried to talk to Owens about a pass route, but Owens told him to stay away and called him something. There were some exchanges between the two before they were separated.
Owens has long believed Romo has played a part in the Cowboys releasing him in 2009. In 2012, he told ESPN Radio’s “Ben & Skin” show that he had lost respect for his former quarterback.
“With that situation, dude, I’ve kind of lost my respect for that situation,” Owens said. “Man, that’s a guy I shed tears for; I went to bat for. Then obviously, ultimately I’m not in Dallas anymore, and I know he definitely had a hand in that. So, again, it’s one of those things that you kind of just have to bite your tongue and keep moving on, you know what I mean?”
Nearly two decades after Owens left Dallas, his attitude towards Romo hasn’t changed.