Owens' season likely over
Inquirer Staff Writer
The best-case scenario that the Super Bowl-hopeful Eagles gave for Terrell Owens' return this season wasn't all that good, and even worse was the prognosis provided by the foot specialist who examined the star wide receiver's injured right ankle yesterday.
"To be fair to him and the team and its fans, it doesn't make sense to say that he could be back in time to play in the Super Bowl," specialist Mark Myerson said last night from his office in Baltimore.
Ninety minutes earlier, trainer Rick Burkholder had broken the news that Owens had suffered far more than a routine ankle sprain early in the third quarter of the Eagles' 12-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Burkholder, with coach Andy Reid seated next to him in the NovaCare Complex auditorium, revealed that Owens had not only a high ankle sprain, but a fractured fibula just below the knee. Either Myerson or team physician Peter DeLuca will insert a surgical screw from Owens' fibula to his tibia tomorrow to stabilize his ankle.
Myerson's past projections about injured players have been accurate. He predicted the week when former Eagles cornerback Bobby Taylor would return from plantar fasciitis (a heel spur) last season and he gave an accurate indication of how long it would take defensive tackle Corey Simon to return from an injury similar to Taylor's this season.
Myerson said the position of Owens' fractured fibula meant it would take longer to heal than the fractured fibula that sidelined quarterback Donovan McNabb for the final six weeks of the 2002 regular season. McNabb did not need surgery.
"If you compared this to Donovan's injury from two years ago, this is different and it takes quite a bit longer to get back because of the nature of the injury itself," said Myerson, who performed a similar operation on NBA star Grant Hill. "The ankle is unstable, and it can't be left like that. There's too much risk of arthritis and things like that."
Burkholder's best-case scenario gives Owens an outside chance to play in the Super Bowl if the Eagles advance to the Feb. 6 NFL title game in Jacksonville, Fla. The trainer said that if all goes well in tomorrow's surgery, he will put Owens through a battery of tests in three weeks.
"We are going to put him on a bike, put him in the pool, let him run," the trainer said.
If Owens passes those tests, Burkholder said, the 6-foot-3 receiver will be sent back to Myerson for another examination. If all is still going well two weeks later, Owens will begin running.
Two weeks after that is the Super Bowl.
"If things would work out, there is an outside chance that he can be prepared to play in that game in some role," Burkholder said. "There are a lot of hurdles that have to be taken on before he can ever get to that point. Right now, the first thing is, we need to get him stabilized, and hopefully everything will go well. We will take it day by day, week by week, and just hope for the best."
Owens, 31, who answered a conference call yesterday by saying, "Yo, this is T.O.," had a realistic view of the situation.
"I went down [to Baltimore] optimistic," he said. "I was kind of hoping for the best, and I got the worst of news. But, you know, things happen, and you just have to move on from it. I'm just sad from the standpoint of not being there with the guys."
Owens was acquired by the Eagles in March in the hope that he would be the missing offensive link that could lead the team to the Super Bowl after three consecutive losses in the NFC championship game. He provided the receiving threat that McNabb never had during his first five seasons with the team. Owens, in 14 games, set single-season team records with 14 receiving touchdowns and seven 100-yard receiving games. He finished the season with 77 catches and 1,200 yards.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have rolled to their most successful regular season since the NFL lengthened the schedule to 16 games in 1978. Their 13 wins are a regular-season franchise record, and the team has clinched home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the playoffs earlier than in any other season in team history.
Owens said he was still holding out some hope that he would be able to play if the Eagles made it to Jacksonville.
"I feel like I am a pretty good healer, so we'll see how my body responds to all of that," he said. "Believe me, I am already on top of it. I already moved my hyperbaric chamber down to my living room."
In a hyperbaric chamber, pressurized oxygen dissolves into the blood. It is used to facilitate soft-tissue healing.
"Believe me, I will be in that, trying to get myself back on the field as soon as I can," Owens said. "But I am going to be smart about the situation."
Without Owens, the Eagles will not be nearly as heavy a favorite to get to their first Super Bowl since the 1980 season.
"My thing was, I was looking forward to the playoffs and trying to get this team to the Super Bowl," Owens said. "I think without me, they can still achieve that goal."
The Eagles' top three receivers now are Todd Pinkston, Freddie Mitchell and Greg Lewis, who combined have 17 fewer catches, 127 fewer receiving yards and 13 fewer touchdowns than Owens. He challenged his receiving mates to do more.
Owens said he believes the Eagles should count on Billy McMullen more. McMullen, a third-round draft pick before last season, has just one career catch.
"I'm going to be the best supporter I can be for those guys," Owens said. "Billy McMullen is going to have to step up and create some fits for some guys. He obviously is a guy who has size similar to myself. Freddie is going to get his chances to make plays. There shouldn't be any more excuses as to why he's not getting any balls. Now he gets his chances.
"[Pinkston] and [Lewis] are going to be up the field. Everybody's opportunities are going to be there. Now, they just have to go out there and make plays. These next two regular-season games, they can go in there and try to get themselves better."
Eagles coach Andy Reid treated the news of Owens' season-ending injury the same way he treats all injury news.
"He's a great player," the coach said. "Can the offense go on? Absolutely. We have some pretty good players on this offensive unit, so it will still function and do very well. That's the mind-set we've always had here, and we'll keep that up."