Owens, Buffalo wrong for each other in so many ways

T.O. signs with Bills | Prisco: T.O. low risk, high reward

No one held a gun to the head of Terrell Owens. He signed with Buffalo voluntarily. And that, folks, tells you all you need to know about how wanted he was in the NFL.

He wasn't.

Trent Edwards and the Bills don't run an Owens-friendly, high-powered offense. (Getty Images)

So Owens joined a team that makes less sense for him than he does for it, and we're left with one inescapable conclusion: There just wasn't a market for the guy.

I know that's not exactly a revelation, but that Buffalo was more attractive to Owens than, say, Oakland or Tampa Bay tells you what was out there: squat. The Bucs indicated they might have an interest, and the Raiders didn't indicate anything -- though speculation was rife that if they were stupid enough to take a flyer on Javon Walker and DeAngelo Hall they might go fishing for Owens.

Well, they didn't because Owens didn't sign with them. He signed with Buffalo, which is the last place you would expect to find him ... unless, of course, there was no place else.

Let's start with Owens and what he brings to the Bills. He is a walking, talking carcinogen, waiting to launch a one-man search-and-destroy mission of the next locker room. He's 35 years old and fading. He's an outspoken and combustible critic of his quarterbacks, taking on Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo -- all Pro Bowl performers -- and getting in line to devour poor Trent Edwards.

Once, people talked about Owens as if he was on his way to Canton, but I spoke recently with one of the voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and asked what he thought about the controversial wide receiver. He assessed him succinctly and accurately: "A guy who produces big numbers and destroys teams." I would say that's about right.

Now look what this move does for Owens. The Bills don't throw the ball; they run it. And when they do throw it, they don't throw it all that far or all that well. Not only did they not have a 300-yard passer last season, but Trent Edwards and J.P. Losman combined for 13 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.

In seven of his 13 NFL seasons Owens had 13 or more TD catches by himself.

Lee Evans led the Bills last season with three touchdown catches. Owens did that four times in his career ... in one game. And one time he had four. You think he's going to be happy reaching the end zone three times in one year? There's a better chance of Michael Vick doing public service announcements for the SPCA.

But let's get down to why Buffalo doesn't throw the ball, and turn your calendars to the month of October, class. Two things happen in Buffalo then: The weather turns rotten, and the Bills turn to the run. It's bad enough when it's cold, but when it's cold, windy and miserable, it's downright treacherous to a passing game.

Ask Eli Manning. I attended his next-to-last regular-season game in 2007, when he fumbled five times and was intercepted twice in a playoff-clinching victory. Manning was awful because the weather was awful, with winds gusting to 50 mph, and the proof was in what happened afterward: Not only did he go on to win a Super Bowl, he threw 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions in his next five starts -- four of them in the playoffs.

Nope, he couldn't throw in Buffalo in December because virtually no one can throw in Buffalo in December. Not with that wind. Not with that sleet. Not with that snow and freezing rain. Yeah, I know all about Jim Kelly and the K-Gun. Kelly was extraordinary, and so were those Bills. But this is not Jim Kelly and the K-Gun, and Marshawn Lynch will never be confused with Thurman Thomas.

The Bills do what they can to squeeze by, and usually that's a combination of superb special-teams play, tough defense and just enough offense to prevail. But even that hasn't been enough lately. The last time the Bills had a winning season was 2004. The last time they reached the playoffs was 1999.

So Owens is going to change all that? I don't think so. Terrell Owens goes together with cold-weather, run-first offenses like perennial presidential candidate Harold Stassen and the White House.

But here's the biggest reason why Owens doesn't figure for Buffalo: He's going to one of those dead zones that even the Cingular army can't reach. Look, I love western New York, and I admire the loyalty, strength and enthusiasm of Bills' fans -- not to mention the wings down at Duff's. But western New York has a diminished fan base, and if you don't believe it, then you haven't seen what the Bills are doing with Toronto.

Uh-huh, giving it one game a year.

So Owens is going from the glare of the media to the glare of the next snowdrift. Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Less attention is exactly what Terrell Owens needs, but it's not exactly what he wants. In fact, he craves the spotlight. He is to cameras what the lungs are to oxygen. Without one, the other can't survive.

Owens loved what he had in Dallas, and what he had was round-the-clock attention from at least one cable network and the area's two metropolitan dailies. Not anymore. Now he's on a team that had trouble getting on local TV a year ago.

This is not how it was supposed to end for Terrell Owens, but, then, he never figured on getting expelled a third time in the NFL. He promised to return, and now he has ... only it's in a place and with a club that don't figure. That tells me he wanted the NFL a lot more than the NFL wanted him.