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Thirteen years after he joined the Buffalo Bills as an aging receiver in hopes of a late-career resurgence, Terrell Owens still has some gas left in the tank.
The 48-year-old Owens made his debut this week in the new Fan Controlled Football league, a 7-on-7 indoor league with some unique wrinkles. Owens has hinted at a comeback many times since he last played in the NFL in 2010, and started his new career off with a bang.
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Owens Makes an Impact
Playing for the FCF Zappers and wearing “Prototype81” on the nameplate of his jersey, Owens showed that he can still hang with other professional players. One the final play of his team’s 20-12 loss to the Shoulda been Stars, Owens snagged a 12-yard touchdown in traffic.
Owens had the chance to make more plays. In the Fan Controlled League, fans have the power to call offensive plays and tried to feed the ball to the Hall of Famer more frequently. As Mike Gavin of NBC Sports noted, Owens was targeted five times during the opening drive and had the chance to make one long play when he beat a defender, but the ball was underthrown. His touchdown ended up as his only catch of the game.
After the game, Owens said he believes he can play even better once he shakes the rust off.
“I felt alright,” Owens said. “I mean, obviously a little rusty, just got to get a little timing with some of the quarterbacks. But other than that, it’s football, you know what I mean? Obviously, I think we wanted to get the win, but we came up short on that end. Hey, we got seven more games. So, always a lot of room for improvement.”
Owens Has Fond Memories of Buffalo
While Owens found plenty of controversy during his NFL career, he had one productive and drama-free season in Buffalo in 2009. The team even brought him back last season as a “Bills Legend” last season, honoring him before a Monday Night Football game against the New England Patriots.
Owens has also said he wished he could have stayed in Buffalo beyond his one season. In an interview with The Athletic in 2020, Owens said he wished he had one full season with Ryan Fitzpatrick as his signal-caller. Fitzpatrick took over as starter during the 2009 season, winning the job from Trent Edwards.
“Honestly, I wish I could have played another year or two (in Buffalo),” Owens said. “If you look at my stats, they weren’t particularly good in the beginning of the season, but once I got with Ryan Fitzpatrick it was like ‘Fitz Magic.’”
Owens made 55 catches for 829 yards and five touchdowns with the Bills, and had some particularly memorable plays with Fitzpatrick. That included a team-record 98-yard touchdown catch.
Owens said he still sees Fitzpatrick as one of his favorite quarterbacks.
“I’ve spoken very highly of Ryan. People ask me who is your favorite quarterback and people think I’m saying it was a joke but I’m like, ‘Yo, Ryan is one of the better quarterbacks that I played with.’ I say that honestly because of how smart he is. Maybe it has something to do with that Harvard education,” Owens added.
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