A near capacity crowd of about 4,000 cheer every move of Bills' new receiver at opening day of practice at St. John Fisher
T.O. is an all-day attraction as Bills open camp
Fans delighted to see No. 81 do his thing
Published: July 25, 2009, 9:50 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
PITTSFORD — The fans took their game to a higher level on Terrell Owens' debut day at Buffalo Bills training camp.
Fans screamed for Owens from the moment he walked onto the field at 8:40 a.m. for the start of the morning workout to the moment he walked off at 4:45 p.m. after Saturday's afternoon session.
They cheered his routine catches. They cheered the way he stretched. They roared when he hauled in a 65-yard bomb from Trent Edwards in the afternoon. They hollered, "Getcha popcorn ready." They wore his No. 81 jersey. They carried boxes of his cereal.
When Owens responded to one fan's exhortations with a big smile and a peace sign, the fan gushed, "That just made my day!"
Bills Nation can only hope Owens' presence can spur the Bills' players to collectively raise their level of play this season.
"You know, sometimes I have to pinch myself," Owens said of the adulation. "I realize that I've had a following everywhere that I've been. I expected nothing different here. I know that the Buffalo fans are very, very fanatic, they're behind their team 100 percent, and so coming out here I expected nothing less. It definitely gives me an appreciation for who I am and what I've done throughout my career."
For the record, it was not a full house when the Bills worked out in the morning. The stands at St. John Fisher College's 2,100-seat Growney Stadium were about two-thirds full, and there were several hundred additional fans lined around the field. In the afternoon, it was a virtual full house, with perhaps 4,000 in attendance.
It was the biggest buzz ever for the opening of a Bills camp this decade, but the crowds and the media throng did not match the typical gathering in Dallas, Owens' home the past three years.
"That's nothing new to me," he said. "Maybe new to you guys, but I've been in the San Francisco market, Dallas, Philly, so this here is a walk in the park."
Owens joked about an especially rabid fan with his cereal box.
"He's part of my PR team," he said. "He's pushing the cereal. It's great. I had a bowl of "TO's' myself before I came out, so it made for a good day."
On the field, however, Owens was all business, which is part of the reason why the Bills signed him to try to resuscitate their perennially weak passing game.
He caught the first pass in 11-on-11 drills of training camp, hauling in a 15-yard throw from Edwards on a rollout play.
He caught virtually everything thrown his way. There was one semi-drop on the sideline on a pass that was behind him.
His highlight was the long completion down the left sideline on which he turned on the afterburners to get behind cornerback Ashton Youboty and run down a perfectly thrown Edwards ball. Owens also spent an extra 25 minutes after the afternoon workout running pass routes with fourth-string QB Matt Baker throwing to him.
It's obvious Owens' size and speed — he's 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds — give the Bills' offense a dimension it has been lacking.
"I would say so far that I've seen a lot of separation," Edwards said of Owens. "If you ask [cornerbacks] Terrence McGee or Leodis McKelvin going up against him, he's a guy that's a big body guy that can get open and make passes by the quarterback a little bit easier.
"I would say when he's running well and he's coming out of his breaks well, he's tough to cover, and that makes my job a lot easier."
Edwards thinks the presence of Owens raises the bar — in terms of expectations and attitude — within the team.
"I feel like it kind of raises the level of play all around us," Edwards said. "I feel like you see him working his butt off and he's working hard every single play, I think it really leads to other guys on the team wanting to play just as hard."
Edwards thinks it has been evidenced already in the way players communicate, something he discussed in the spring.
"He likes coming back to the huddle and telling me what he saw and asking me what I saw, and that's very important for a quarterback and wide receiver," Edwards said. "Same thing, I feel like, is rubbing off on Lee [Evans]. He's been more in my ear about what he wants and what coverage he saw, and it's really been beneficial for me because I have two guys coming back to the huddle, communicating, whereas it hasn't really happened in my career so far."
On Day One, it seemed, everyone had grand visions of Owens' future with the Bills.
"I just take it all in stride," Owens said. "I know that I'm a blessed individual, and I know that I have a lot to offer. So I expect to bring some of those same things that I brought to other teams to Buffalo — a lot of success and a lot of wins."
Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.