Cowboys Clear Terrell Owens To Play Tonight Against the Vikings

By Mark Hoerrner

There’s a chance—a slim one—that Dallas Cowboys fans will finally get to see their beloved spring recruit Terrell Owens actually take the field. There’s an even slimmer chance that he might actually do some of what he will be paid $10 million to do this year—actually play football.

But don’t look for much pressure from the coaching staff.

"That'll be up to him," Cowboys Head Coach Bill Parcells told the Associated Press. "If he feels like he wants to get some plays, then we'll think about it. If not, we won't."

Good thing there’s no pressure for the NFL wide receiver who imploded during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles and has yet to step on to the field even as a benchwarmer for three pre-season games. Despite all of Owen’s rhetoric about being "ready in September," Parcells said that Owens might not see field time in that game.

"Well, what's he looked like? How's he practiced? What does he look like he knows? There could be a lot of reasons why he might not play," Parcells told the AP. "I don't know what's going to happen."

No one seems to know what’s going to happen with T.O. Dallas fans never expected him to miss two-thirds of training camp complaining about a hamstring injury that no one but T.O can find any evidence of. No one expected him to ship a hyperbaric oxygen chamber or personal doctors to the training camp. And certainly, no one expected Owens to miss three preseason games.

Parcells’ first teams will likely dominate play for the first part of the season. Whether that will include Owens or not is still a mystery, but since the team has gone undefeated in three games without the wide receiver, Parcells is likely to just keep forging ahead.

"I just don't want to lose the sharpness that we have coming out from camp," he said.

The Cowboys face the Minnesota Vikings tonight in a contest that’s sure to be an interesting match. Dallas has allowed only two touchdowns in the preseason pairings; Minnesota has allowed only one and that was the result of a no-huddle surprise. Both teams have excellent offensive capability and a strong defensive line.

Minnesota also has a new head coach, Brad Childress. T.O. followers will remember Childress as the Philadelphia offensive strategy coach who took aspirin every time T.O. took the field. Now the big cheese at Minnesota, he’s offering little support and maybe exuding just a bit of schadenfreude as he watches Owens’ antics from afar. But he’s confident Parcells is at the top of his game.

Bill is a big boy," Childress said. "He can stand on his own two feet."