Phil Simms, CBS' lead NFL analyst, was blunt when asked if he would want Owens on his team. "No, I would not," said Simms, a former New York Giant quarterback who was Super Bowl XXI's most valuable player. "I hate to say that about him or anyone. But he is a lot for a quarterback to deal with. Trying to satisfy him is not something I could deal with."

Simms, who played for Bill Parcells, added that order and discipline have to be the first two components in winning Football games.

"The lines can't be muddled," he said via telephone. "With Terrell Owens, the atmosphere and the culture were muddled."

Closer to home, Michael Irvin, an Owens confidante but Cowboys loyalist, said he was surprised when he received a text message from Owens on Wednesday night with the news he would no longer be a Cowboy.

Asked if the move would benefit the Cowboys on the field, Irvin said he didn't know. He pointed to the 38 touchdowns Owens scored for the Cowboys over the last three seasons but conceded there were problems in the locker room.

"Nobody in this world understands the value of a teammate more than me," Irvin said in an interview. "But I also understand the value of points."

Irvin added he was sad that the Cowboys and Owens could not work together. He said the Cowboys might have won more games last season if rookie running back Felix Jones had not been injured. Winning more, he said, would have been the perfect elixir for locker room chemistry.

Irvin, a Hall of Fame wide receiver for the Cowboys, was concerned if Roy Williams could replace Owens as a bona fide No. 1 receiver on a winning team. Irvin termed bogus any excuse for Williams' disappointing performance as a Cowboy after he was acquired from the Lions in a mid-season trade.

"We don't know what Roy can do," Irvin said. "Just because the Cowboys gave up a one, a three and a six (draft choices). ... What was he doing being overweight? It didn't look like he could get open. It was not 'wow, wow, wow' after he got here."

Owens didn't get much support at ESPN, a network whose analysts were not kind to him last season. Steve Young, a quarterback when Owens was with the San Francisco 49ers, called him an unhealthy locker room presence.

Irvin believes wherever Owens lands, he will have a superior season. "He'll fight back," Irvin said. "He'll want to show everybody he can still do it."