A few yards away, Owens peddled slowly on his stationary bike.

“We need to see something here pretty soon, that is the truth,” Parcells said Monday. “We need to get (Owens) in the offense. He’s missed a lot of work.”

Even Jones suggested after Owens wasn’t with the team in Seattle for the opening exhibition game that he needs to get used to practicing at “75 percent.”

“Terrell only knows one way, that’s 100 percent,” Jones said. “As he goes on into his career, if he can consistently practice at that 75 to 80 percent (level) that will help. It’s not a criticism.”

Heaven forbid.

Owens brought in his own medical team to advise him on dealing with the hamstring issue, an affront to the Cowboys’ doctors and training staff, and has clearly sent the message that he’ll return to practice only when he’s good and ready.

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On Tuesday morning, he ran several 100-yard sprints, seemingly at full speed, but was back on his bike alongside the field for the afternoon practice.

“I know he wants me out there on the football field,” Owens told a large group of reporters Monday. “And I told him, ‘Bill, I want to be out there just as bad as you want me out there.’ It’s just a situation where we all have to be patient with one another.”

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Patience, of course, has seldom been one of Parcells’ virtues over his 19-year career as an NFL head coach. Yes, he’s had problem players before, including Lawrence Taylor in New York, but Taylor at least understood his own on-field responsibilities and responded to Parcells’ coaching style. It’s almost always been Big Bill’s way or the highway.

This time, Parcells might have met his match, however.

Owens is letting everyone know that he does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it and how he wants to do it.

Unfortunately for Parcells and the Cowboys, there doesn’t seem to be an “asthma field,” much less a “pain-in-the-neck field,” anywhere in sight.