| FBG Mobile Home |
Receiving: 7 / 53 / 0 on 13 targets
Owens got two opportunites to make big plays on Sunday. Early on the first drive, Palmer threw a lob to TO that he was unable to come down with. Then the rookie Devin McCourty got perfect inside position on Owens later in the game and kept him from even making a play on a long pass into the endzone. Owens was still a big part of the offense, as he provides a reliable target for Palmer on the other side of Chad. Owens will be a reliable possession receiver for Palmer, but the question of whether Owens can still go get the jump balls and be a deep threat has not been resolved. While Ocho Cinco hasn't shown signs of aging yet, Owens is 36 and will turn 37 this season. He is also coming off of a poor year in Buffalo. There is no doubt that he is going to be heavily involved in the gameplan, but whether he can be elite or not will depend on his ability to catch the long ball, something he was unable to do on two opportunites against the Patriots.
Receiving: 3 / 57 / 0 on 11 targets
He played alright but when he did catch the ball he seemed to be afraid he was going to be hit. Owens ran at times with both hands over the ball protecting it like a RB that was trying to run out the clock. Palmer was terrible so it is hard to gauge how good or bad Owens really was but clearly he was trying to catch the ball and get to the ground sooner rather than later.
Receiving: 4 / 42 / 0 on 9 targets
Owens' first action of the day was typical of the receiver as he used his big body to get in front of the defensive back and give his quarterback an easy target on a quick slant. Owens was targeted at the goal line when he ran a hitch route, but the DB made a nice play to knock the ball away. Owens' best play of the day came when Palmer tossed it out to him quickly when he saw the corner blitz coming. Owens caught the ball and showed some good open field moves to make a defender miss. Owens then fought for extra yards. Owens was a reliable target for Palmer today on a day where passing was not the Bengals' forte.
Receiving: 10 / 222 / 1 on 15 targets
Terrell Owens had a career-day Sunday amassing 222 yards that helped vault him into second place all-time in receiving yards (he passed Torry Holt). Usually this is where I would say that the 78-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter where the cornerback fell down inflated his stat line, but this is just not the case. Even without that play Owens still would have had a fantastic day with nine catches for 144 yards. However, it is worth noting that most of all this was due in large part to the Browns horrendous secondary than anything else, but regardless, it was still a nice day for TO and should keep his ego in check for quite some time.
Receiving: 7 / 102 / 1 on 12 targets
You can see the number of targets but Palmer almost has tunnel vision for this guy. Owens is not slow and in fact ran a fly route for a touchdown early in the game. He still misses easy balls that he should catch but the chemistry is there between Owens and Palmer. Owens right now is clearly the WR1 on this team. Again check the upgrade/downgrade section for more analysis on TO but right now he needs to be in your starting lineup.
Receiving: 9 / 88 / 1 on 13 targets
If Ochocinco was inconsistent, Owens was reliable and trustworthy. Palmer looked to him often and Owens delivered by not only catching the ball but dragging defenders with him to make extra yards. Palmer targeted Owens deep on a couple of occasions early, but the coverage was excellent. His highlight play was a backside screen pass which he ran in for a touchdown. He stiff armed a defender with authority on the way to pay dirt. Owens delivered a veteran wide receiver performance on Sunday.
Receiving: 5 / 65 / 2 on 12 targets
Yes he scored on the 1st drive and was doing laps around Jason Allen. The rest of the game he was a joker of sorts. He got very lucky as well. Miami had just thrown an interception and Palmer went up top to TO on the very 1st play. The Miami DB, Clemons, actually had the interception but bobbled it to the ground and ended up flipping it into the air where TO was Johnny on the spot and took it right into the end zone on the flip for a score. TO might have had his 3rd touchdown if he tried harder late in the 2nd half with Cinci needing a score. The Miami DB ran past TO but he did not adjust in the end zone and made a half hearted attempt to catch the football.
Receiving: 10 / 141 / 2 on 14 targets
"Batman" turned in a vintage performance in this one. He was given great opportunity to work out of the slot often, and he beat Steelers' nickelback William Gay early and often. Working the seams almost exclusively, Owens was finding gaps in the zone 10-20 yards downfield with consistency. When a target as big as TO is that open (especially on the interior of the defense), even Carson Palmer can find him. Owens may have lost a step from his early days, and that's natural, but he's the perfect example of how a veteran's skill and knowledge can overcome lost steps. They're not the exact same kind of player, but it will be interesting to see if an all-vertical threat guy like Mike Wallace can learn to do these types of things and work the slot like TO did in this game. He was the game's most effective offensive player.
Receiving: 4 / 64 / 0 on 8 targets
Despite commanding most of the defenses attention for the majority of the day, Owens still managed to haul in four balls for 64 yards on eight targets. Two of Owens' eight targets coincidentally resulted in interceptions although only one appeared to show that he could have presumably did anything about it. It says something about the kind of season Owens has been having that his four catch, 64 yard outing can be considered a poor day overall.
Receiving: 3 / 63 / 1 on 9 targets
Aside from his one goalline TD, TO had a frustrating day. He had a deep ball thrown to him from Palmer, and Owens made a tremendous play, fighting off the defender, going up and getting the ball, and staying in bounds to get the TD. Unfortunately it was meaningless, as the play was called back due to holding. Owens also had two costly drops that hurt the Bengals in crucial 2nd half drives. It seems like every offensive player played very well, but made critical errors that cost them the game.
Receiving: 3 / 17 / 0 on 8 targets
Owens wasn't targeted often against Revis. He did use his size advantage to make a few first downs on quick slant passes, but other than that, he was unable to get anything going. Ironically, his best chance at a TD was a deep ball from Ocho Cinco on a WR option, and the long pass was almost completed, but looked to be thrown just a few inches too long. Perhaps Revis is just an average CB, but Owens was unable to get open for the majority of the game.
Receiving: 6 / 47 / 1 on 9 targets
Owens didn't had any long catches, but he draw a long pass interference on a play that could have been a TD if Carson Palmer had gotten more air under the ball. Owens did catch a short TD by getting open on an end zone route that took him from the middle of the field to the sideline and he also had another end zone target barely broke up by a very good defense play. TO's strong catch and run ability also was apparent on his long gain of the day. After a short lag in his production, Owens is back to being a strong WR2 play with WR1 upside.
Receiving: 1 / 22 / 0 on 6 targets
T.O. had a game to forget in this one. After a 22-yard catch on the Bengals' first drive, the Steelers caught more balls on passes intended for Owens than he did. As was mentioned early, he was targeted on Polamalu's pick-six. He was also targeted on the final play of the "garbage time" drive on which the Bengals drove into scoring range only to have Palmer throw another INT to Polamalu. After the first interception, it looked as if Palmer and Owens were discussing what happened on the play on the sidelines. What seemed to be normal QB-and-WR talk, Palmer ended up simply walking away from Owens without any apparent resolution. It's easy to say the game changed because the play was a defensive touchdown, but it was at that point that any keen viewer could see that the Bengals were in shut-down mode.
Terrell Owens was battling knee problems all week. He was limited in practice but the MRI showed that he would be able to play. On the first series, Ownes ran hard up the sideline, stopped and turned around for a come-back route but pulled up limping. He tore his meniscus on the play and is done for the season.