SPORTSDAY

Those hoping that T.O. would have another emotional postgame moment with a quarterback will be disappointed.

I surfed the Web far and wide looking for reports of T.O. and Jeff Garcia giving each other some love after the ex-San Francisco teammates hooked up (for a TD) at the Pro Bowl. Figured that if T.O. can hug it out with Donovan McNabb, surely he could show Garcia some love.

Apparently not. According to ESPN.com's Hashmarks, Garcia was P.C. when asked about T.O. And T.O. was T.O. when asked about Garcia.

"It seemed like old times," Garcia said. "We didn't miss a beat. ... A guy like that, you have to give him opportunities to make plays."

Said Owens: "It doesn't matter who's back there at quarterback -- he does his job, I do my job. It works out for everybody."

Tony Romo and T.O., who talked to NFL Network earlier this week, also sat down together with FoxSports.com's Alex Marvez.

You can check out that interview here. The Romo/T.O. relationship has progressed to the point that the QB sings love songs to the receiver.

In a touching moment, T.O. reveals that the media made him cry after the playoff loss because he knew what questions were going to be asked about the Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta.

On a related note, T.O. expressed concern that Romo is "in way over his head" with the Blonde Ambition star. The Original 81 might have been kidding. Always tough to tell with him.

The only question left is which one in Tony Romo and which one is Terrell Owens?

During a two-segment interview on last night's NFL Total Access, the Cowboys' record-setting duo couldn't settle that. At first, Romo assumed the role of the Boy Wonder, but at the end of their sitdown with Rich Eisen, the QB was looking to become the Caped Crusader.

That was just part of a talk that ranged from how much Owens' emotional defense of his QB at season's end meant to the QB, all the way to how good Romo really is at golf. Follow the jump for the long of the jovial conversation. And as a warning: We mean long.

Everybody's favorite wide receiver, Terrell Owens, will do a interview today on CNN around 2 p.m. T.O. will talk about, what else, T.O.
The interview was done in Miami, Owens' offseason home, earlier this week.

T.O.'s not tripping too hard about having to owing the Eagles $769,120, but he's not real happy with the job the players union did representing him in arbitration.

"It is what it is,'' Owens said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. "Honestly, I'm disappointed in the union. The second time that we've kind of used their services, I've been very, very disappointed in that.''

Of course, agent Drew Rosenhaus handled the Original 81's departure from Philly like a true pro.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Brookover couldn't resist taking a jab while breaking the news that an arbitator ruled that T.O. must return $769,120 to the Eagles.

Terrell Owens had nearly 800,000 reasons to cry over the weekend.

A league source said yesterday that an arbitrator ruled in the Eagles' favor Friday on a grievance that was filed by the NFL players' union on Owens' behalf more than two years ago. The union had disputed the Eagles' move to recover $1.725 million of the $2.3 million signing bonus the team paid the wide receiver when it signed him to a seven-year, $49 million deal in 2004.

Why should Cowboy fans care? For starters, this gives me more fodder to sensationalize on this here blog when the Cowboys and Iggles meet next season. And it also gives Philly almost $800,000 of extra room under the 2008 salary cap.

T.O. was spotted at the Ghost Bar the other night swapping phone numbers with Paris Hilton, who makes Jessica Simpson look smart. I'd link you to a picture on gossip blog Perez Hilton, but there's a whole bunch of profanity there.

I wouldn't worry too much about a budding Paris-T.O. romance affecting the Original 81 next season. A long-term relationship for her is a weekend.

Jerry Jones said he will definitely pay T.O.'s $3 million roster bonus due in March, Calvin "Lucky" Watkins reports from the Senior Bowl.

It was certainly expected that T.O. would be back next season, considering that he was a model teammate and All-Pro in 2007. Now there's no doubt he'll be here for the last year of his contract.

Now the question becomes: Will the Cowboys work out an extension with T.O.? Jerry said he is open to getting that done.

Terry Glenn's future with the Cowboys is in doubt, however. Jerry said Glenn will need microfracture surgery on his knee, which could signal the end of the veteran receiver's career. Jerry said he will discuss Glenn's future with him soon and left it at that.

By now, the video of Terrell Owens breaking down has made the rounds.

And jokes have been made. But players outside Valley Ranch seemed to know where T.O.'s coming from.

"That's my boy, so I'm not getting into that," Patriots receiver Donte' Stallworth said. "I understand what he's saying, and he's right. He's right."

I tend to see players having a quarterback's back as a good sign too. But maybe that's me.

Jason Garrett and Tony Sparano aren't gone yet, but odds are they'll be head coaches elsewhere by the end of the week. Albert "Einstein" Breer mentioned potential candidates to become the Cowboys' next offensive play-caller.

Receivers coach Ray Sherman should get serious consideration because of his experience. Another factor is his relationship with T.O.

T.O. (and a lot of the Cowboys' other offensive playmakers) love Sherman. I'm sure it would please T.O. to see Sherman get a promotion, although the Cowboys would have to find another receivers coach who would work well with the Orignal 81.

A happy T.O. is an All-Pro T.O.

LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN

T.O.'s tearful postgame press conference will be talked about for years. New Yorkers will fondly remember the Giants' popcorn-themed taunts.

His gutsy performance after three weeks of grueling rehab will be a mere footnote.

With the help of a hyperbaric chamber and a whole bunch of healing hands, T.O. managed to play at a high level a week before he should have even considered coming back from a high ankle sprain.

T.O. dominated the first half, catching four passes for 49 yards and a TD. He was shut out in the second half, but that doesn't tell the whole story. He twice got wide open for would-be touchdowns, but Tony Romo's throws were off target.

Why T.O. didn't get a chance to win the game – Romo's final throw was to Terry Glenn in traffic instead of T.O. in similar coverage on a double post – is a mystery.

"There were opportunities there," T.O. said of the game. "Sometimes we made them, and sometimes we didn't. In the playoffs, every play counts. Every play is magnified."

We put every throw to T.O. under the magnifying glass after the jump.

Calvin "Lucky" Watkins mentioned in his column that Jerry Jones has a decision to make with T.O.

If Jones wants Owens to return for the final year of his contract, he must pay a $3 million roster bonus in the spring. Owens is due a base salary of $4 million for the 2008 season . That's $7 million for a player the Cowboys threw to only twice in the fourth quarter Sunday.

Talk about a no-brainer. That's a bargain for an All-Pro receiver who has stunningly morphed into a model teammate.

It's an especially easy decision considering the Cowboys' belief that they're on the cusp of a Super Bowl. Eliminate T.O. from the mix, and this team might not make the playoffs.

Tim blogged about Terrell Owens tearing up while defending Tony Romo.

Here's the visual.

If you talk trash, and you don't back it up, trouble tends to follow.

So after Terrell Owens came up with four catches for 49 yards, he had some bullets to absorb.

"We hope T.O. has his popcorn ready," Owens said. "Maybe him and Crayton can sit his home theater and watch us next week."

Good idea! Maybe it will help develop chemistry for '08. Or maybe, they'll start thinking about how to take these comments and shove them back in Brandon Jacobs' face.

"The Cowboys are a great football team," said the gregarious tailback. "They might have had a chance to win if Patrick Crayton didn't drop the two key passes. There was a lot of talk. But it's over with. We won the game. They're chillin' and we're going to Green Bay next week."

JOHN F. RHODES / DMN

T.O. knows what's coming for Tony Romo.

He knows folks are going to blame this loss on the Cowboys' franchise quarterback after Romo's mediocre performance (18-of-36 for 201 yards and a TD with an INT). And he know Romo's focus will be questioned after the much-publicized Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta.

And T.O. made it clear that this loss shouldn't fall on Romo's shoulders. Tears formed behind T.O.'s designer shades while he stuck up for Romo in his postgame press conference.

"You guys can point the finger at him," T.O. said. "You can talk about the vacation, and if you do that, it's really unfair. It's really unfair. That's my teammate. That's my quarterback. If you guys do that, man, it's unfair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man."

VERNON BRYANT / DMN

The Original 81 bolted out of the tunnel and took a pre-victory lap around the field, letting folks on all sides of Texas Stadium scream their hearts out for him.

T.O. showed no sign of a limp, but he doesn't appear to be at full speed. A TV cameraman was able to keep up with him for the first 100 yards.

T.O. looks fine coming out of his breaks and hasn't dropped a pass from assistant equipment manager Mike Kurowski yet.

Cowboys WR Terrell Owens vs. Giants RCB Corey Webster

Unless the Giants start flopping corners, and play Aaron Ross to the right, this will be the matchup the Cowboys get most often. Webster played great last week against Joey Galloway. But the challenge this week is different.

Webster will have to play disciplined to have a chance, close quickly on Owens' underneath routes, and get help over the top. This is a mismatch the Cowboys will look to exploit, but because of the way the coaches motion Owens and line him up all over the place, it’s not one you’ll see all afternoon.

Just got done watching the whole Terrell Owens interview with Deion Sanders and say this about The Original 81: He's nothing if not entertaining.

Deion pressed him about the Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta. And even if his response wasn't all the way truthful, it was an absolute grand slam of a quote.

"I’ll let the cat out of the bag, that was my apology trip to Jessica (Simpson) and (Tony) Romo," Owens said. "So I sent them on that trip to get away for the bye week. I just tried to correct a harmless little joke I made."

Speaking further on the matter, Sanders uttered the line, "It's not easy being T.O." To which Owens responded, "It not easy being Romo."

If the Simpson line was the winner, the runner-up was Terrell Owens insistance that this season will end with the Cowboys' sixth Super Bowl title.

"Jerry brought me here to bring this team to the Super Bowl," Owens said. "He took a chance or a risk, in a lot of people’s minds, to bring me here. I’m not going to let him down."

Not exactly a guarantee, right? Well, when asked about Jason Garrett's candidacy for head coaching jobs, he sounded pretty sure.

"I can’t really put in to words what he’s done for me -- volumes, for what he’s done for my career, compared to last year," Owens said. "What he does after we win the Super Bowl, that’s on him."

Follow the jump for more of this solid gold session with Prime Time.

Cowboys CB Anthony Henry suffered a high right ankle sprain on Sept. 30 against the Rams. He didn't get back on the field for more than a month, returning in Philadelphia on Nov. 4, and did get back in the starting lineup until the Detroit game on Dec. 30.

So he knows just what Terrell Owens has gone through, with his own high left ankle sprain.

"The pain is aggravating, it’s always gonna hurt, mine’s still hurting me right now," Henry said. "He’s definitely been doing a good job treating his, and coming back and being able to play. It’s definitely frustrating knowing that certain plays, you could’ve made, had you been healthy."

If you compare the injuries of the two, Owens coming back this week would be like if Henry came back for the Vikings injury in October. Even returning when he did, the corner says it's taken a while to get it all back, and he didn't really hit his stride until the middle of December.

But even with the limitations he experienced., Henry thinks Owens will be fine.

"It's everything – pushing off, explosion, vertical speed," Henry said. "But he’s been practicing well, he’s doing stuff I couldn’t do three weeks after mine. He’s much further ahead than I was."

Let's just put it this way: Neither Terrell Owens nor the Cowboys exhibited much caution at all during the portion of practice open to the media.

The workout was outdoors, and held in sweats. As Barry posted a minute ago, Owens came out late for practice, just as we were coming on to the fields, with associate athletic trainer Britt Brown at his side. After getting some early work in during passing lines, Owens retreated to the sideline, took off his shoe, and had the tape job around his left ankle sliced off.

Owens then jogged around the stretching lines high-fiving all his teammates. And in early group work, the Cowboys were tossing fade routes up to Owens, requiring the receiver to go up for the ball. He worked with the first group most of the time, and kept close to Brown when on the sideline. Also, the limp he showed on Thursday was, for the most part, gone today.

Bottom line: It's pretty much like nothing's wrong with Owens.

Albert Breer reports from Valley Ranch that Terrell Owens arrived a little late for practice with associate athletic trainer Britt Brown. His ankle was heavily taped, but Brown just cut the tape off and T.O. began stretching excercises.

The cat's been let of out of Wade Phillips' proverbial bag. And this morning, he really didn't try too hard to push the idea that T.O.'s status is still up in the air.

He knows that we know Owens is playing.

"Terrell Owens said he’s going to play," Phillips said. "I believe him. To what degree and what level remains to be seen. Unless something unforeseen happens, I think he will attempt to play and we will let him play. Like I said, to what degree, he can be effective, we’ll see in the game.

"Terry Glenn’s similar, in that what level these guys can play in the ball game remains to be seen. But they’ll probably be out there."

The question was then posed whether either receiver will be well enough to start. Phillips held on to his secrets on that one.

"I would imagine if Terrell’s ready to go, he’ll start," Phillips said. "Terry, we’ll probably work in. But don’t hold me to that."

Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman tabbed four Cowboys for his All-Pro team, giving Dallas one more selection than the AP's final tally did.

But The Original 81 was not among his picks. Dr. Z took three receivers: The Patriots' Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and the Colts' Reggie Wayne.

Two of Z's selections -- TE Jason Witten and OLB DeMarcus Ware -- made the AP's final list. Zimmerman also took LT Flozell Adams and CB Terence Newman.

So now that Terrell Owens has blown the lid off the days-long charade concerning his status for the Giants game, everyone can exhale.

Including the Cowboys themselves (not that they were ever particularly nervous about it.) Today, Patrick Crayton said that it, in fact, really doesn't matter much if Owens isn't quite going at full speed.

“Even if he’s 85, 90 (percent), his 85 or 90 is better than a lot of receivers in this league,” Crayton said. “Just because of his explosiveness and what he brings, he’s always a threat to run by you. Ask Sam Madison.”

We'll see if we can get our man in East Rutherford, David Moore, to do that tomorrow. Until then, we'll have to settle for the truth in the statement -- T.O. took the veteran Giant to school in November, to the tune of six catches, 125 yards and two touchdowns on Nov. 11.

If there is any question about whether Terrell Owens is going to play on Sunday, it was answered when the receiver did an interview with NFL Network's Deion Sanders on Thursday.

"Oh, I’m gonna play,” Owens said. “I’m gonna play.”

When Prime Time asked T.O. at what level, he said, “At a high level. I’m not worried about nothing.”

Several players said Owens looked good during Monday's walkthrough and during the brief media period on Thursday, T.O. ran pretty smooth. There was a slight hitch in his step, but not enough to cause too much of a concern.

Our own David Moore passed along some thoughts from the Giants from Jersey. And they aren't buying the idea that WR Terrell Owens isn't playing Sunday.

Not for one, stinkin' second. But they are poking fun at a certain healing device T.O.'s famous for.

“He’s going to play. Come on, man. I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn. You want to buy that sucker?" Giants DE Michael Strahan joked. “He came out there three days after breaking a leg and played in the Super Bowl. He sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber like Michael Jackson. He does all that stuff he needs to do. The guy is going to play in the game.’’

G.J. McCARTHY / DMN

The Cowboys didn't veer off course today. Even though Terrell Owens practiced and looked OK during the media period, and despite the fact he passed around the locker room area with no brace or tape on his left ankle, his status hasn't changed.

That is to say he's a game-time decision.

"I thought that he moved well," owner/GM Jerry Jones said. "I thought he competed right around the level that we practicing at. Those weren’t half speed out there. It is a decision that needs to be made at game-time. We know how critical this is, nothing else happens if we don’t win this game.

"On the other hand, his availability will be determined probably in large part on what kind of risk is involved on not having him for later games. He obviously can run a route, but I think it is a very legitimate game-time decision. He’s in very good spirits, very competitive spirits, very focused on our success here Sunday."

G.J. McCARTHY / DMN

Everyone took part, as the team geared back down into shells and shorts and worked inside its field house with three games left before gameday.

WR Terrell Owens was there, yes. And he had a limp in his step, favoring the left ankle he injured in Carolina. He was rounding out his breaks, rather than changing direction sharp, on most routes. Toward the end, he seemed to be accelerating and cutting better.

But no matter how much we overanalyze all this, the fact remains that Owens will play Sunday. Count on it.

Albert Breer reports that Terrell Owens is at the media portion of practice for the first time since injuring his ankle against Carolina.

More to come ...

We really haven't had any trash talk between the teams this week, but I sense a wee bit of sarcasm from Plaxico Burress on the topic of T.O.

"Don't play," he said.

Burress, of course, has been playing on a bad ankle all season. There's no way that lets Burress come across as looking like the toughest receiver in the NFC.

You might recall that there's some bad blood between the prima donna receivers. T.O. has refused to talk about Burress all season, but I guarantee he remembers being called a coward by Plax last year.

Don't worry, I won't bombard you with any more pictures from Cabo. Instead, we'll look at how things change for All-Pro TE Jason Witten when All-Pro WR Terrell Owens isn't in the game, since there's (wink, wink), a chance The Original 81 sits on Sunday.

"More than anything, you’re missing that down-the-field threat you have," Witten said yesterday. "And I think teams are aware of that. I see a lot more coverage on me, a lot of safety help over the top. With him out there, his big-play ability, it takes a lot of pressure off the entire offense.

His numbers suffered, too. T.O. went down in the middle of the second quarter of the Carolina game, and Witten came out of the Redskins game midway through the third. So that's roughly five quarters of actions. The numbers: Four catches, 35 yards, no touchdowns.

His per-game averages before T.O.'s injury (We'll call it 14 1/2 games, though it was a little less than that): 6.3 catches for 76.6 yards. So that means, even with conservative parameters, Witten had 2.3 less catches, 41.6 less yards and his per catch average took a hit of more than 3 yards (12.2-8.6).

That's more attention in general, and it's also that safety help that Witten spoke of, which prevents him from making plays down the seam. The bottom line is that without Owens out there, Witten's going to get a massive amount of attention, even more than some teams (i.e. Patriots, Giants) committed to him when the big tight end was their primary focus.