Owens keeps his eyes on the football
Receiver impresses in first practice with Bills
Terrell Owens was all business on his first day on the practice field for the Buffalo Bills.
The star wide receiver took a low-key, no-nonsense approach Monday as the Bills held their first of 11 voluntary spring practices, called “organized team activities.”
“I felt like a rookie,” Owens said afterward. “I was just trying to get the plays down. We’ve got a lot of verbiage going in. So I was really trying to concentrate on snap count and listening to the plays.”
There wasn’t a lot of conversation with teammates and no histrionics.
It was all about concentration, which he showed by making one of the best catches of the 90-minute practice.
Owens hauled in a 40-yard bomb over his left shoulder on a pass from quarterback Trent Edwards. Owens didn’t have much separation down the right sideline from cornerback Terrence McGee — maybe a third of a step—but he made the grab anyway and sprinted for what would have been a touchdown in a real game.
“Well, I’ve caught a ball or two in my life,” Owens said when asked about the grab.
McGee was more enthused. “I was on the ground, [thinking] how did he catch it?” McGee said. “I thought I had pretty good position. Even when I lunged for it and missed it, I still didn’t think that he had a chance at it, then when I saw it in his hand I said, ‘Oh my God he caught that.’ It was a pretty impressive throw and catch.”
That kind of play is what the Bills had in mind when they signed the 35- year-old Owens to a one-year deal in March. Owens brings 139 career TD catches—second most on the all-time list — to a Bills offense that has failed to crack the top 20 in passing yards six straight years.
“He’s talented, a physical guy that catches the ball well and moves well,” Edwards said. “Obviously, he’s in great shape. . . . It’s my job to get the ball to him, and my job over these next practices is to get comfortable with him.”
Regarding his focused demeanor during practice, Owens said:
“That’s pretty much how I am at practice. . . . Once I get familiar with a lot of the guys, we’ll start jawing a little bit at each other. But right now my focus is really just trying to get this offense down and see what ways I can help the team.”
For the record, Owens did drop the first pass that came his way, a ball that was a tad high from Edwards on a slant pattern, but one that nevertheless hit the receiver’s hands.
Owens hauled in seven of eight catchable balls thrown his way. Two other throws were directed at him. One was high and wide on a short out pattern, and the other was broken up by safety Donte Whitner.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Owens presents a much bigger presence on the outside than the Bills have had this decade. He caught two short sideline throws in which his frame shielded the defense and presented a nice target for Edwards.
“A lot of corners, we’re not too big,” McGee said. “We’re smaller, quick guys, 5-10, 5-9. When you have a guy like that, even when you have good position, he can still go up and get the ball. You try to press him he can knock you off.”
“There was one play,” Whitner said, “where he caught it [over the middle] and a guy took the wrong angle, and he probably would have came out the back door [behind the secondary]. You know, one of those plays he’s known for after breaking a tackle.”
Bills fans will be eager to see one of those come September.
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