Ron Heflin / AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shows Terrell Owens his jersey. If coach Bill Parcells can get Owens to mesh with the team, the Cowboys will be a potent offensive force next season.

Bigger issue to fix
Former NFL MVP Rich Gannon recently spent two days working with Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms and one of the big messages in the tutorial was that Simms should run more. Fair point. Simms is a better athlete than he appears at times and certainly isn’t the pure pocket passer that his dad Phil was in his day.

The bigger issue with Simms and his possible success with the Buccaneers rests on the trust he must develop with coach Jon Gruden.

During Tampa Bay’s home playoff loss to Washington, it was obvious that Gruden doesn’t trust Simms to throw the ball downfield. On Simms’ first 11 pass attempts of the game, none of the throws went farther than 8 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

That was by design, not by happenstance or by Simms being afraid to throw it. Simms didn’t get a chance to air it out until he threw a beautiful pass to Edell Shepherd that Shepherd narrowly dropped.

That was with 3:03 remaining in the game. Simms ended up throwing 38 times for 198 yards. That kind of play-calling isn’t going to create a lot of running room for any quarterback.

No matter how much he improves his running ability.

Audibles

• Here’s wishing luck to wide receiver David Boston as he tries yet another comeback with Tampa Bay. Boston recently had surgery on both knees to clear out scar tissue. He has had surgery to repair tears or ruptures to the patellar tendons of both knees. It’s not unusual for one such surgery to a end a career. Boston missed all of the 2004 season and had only five catches for 80 yards last year with the Dolphins. San Diego dumped him in 2004 because the Chargers couldn’t take Boston’s attitude. Whatever ego problems Boston had back then seemed to fade last season as he struggled to get through practices. All of that said, Boston is an example of why players need to monitor their bodies a little more carefully. His fascination with body building (which included using a performancing enhancing substance at one point) really worked to his detriment.
• Quarterback Quincy Carter hit rock bottom as a player this week when he was released by Montreal of the CFL. Carter told the Montreal Gazette, “This is a joke.” He was referring to his release, but just as easily could have been talking about his career as a whole, which Carter hasn’t taken a lot of responsibility for over the years.

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