<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>Owens, Eagles refuse to budge off stubborn stances</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER type="block" width="1" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer
August 12, 2005
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<SMALL>AP - Aug 10, 8:31 pm EDT</SMALL>
More Photos</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) --
Terrell Owens' banishment from training camp did nothing to quiet the exchange of harsh words between the
Philadelphia Eagles and their All-Pro wide receiver.
If anything, the running feud only got worse Thursday, the first day of coach Andy Reid's weeklong timeout.
While T.O. stayed home, the Eagles hardened their stance that Owens will not get the new contract he desperately wants -- and insisted that he must return with an understanding that he can no longer become a disruption.
Owens said he still wants the dough, the respect he feels he's been denied and says his ``attitude is not going to change.''
Where this leaves them is anyone's guess. Somehow, a placid resolution between one of the league's model franchises and one of its top receivers is harder to picture with each combative day. ``Our hope, obviously, is that he comes back next week and is what he can be in every sense, whether that's how he contributes to the team on the field or off the field,'' team president Joe Banner said Thursday. ``We've been clear that the choices are to play under this contract or not. I'm not sure he still believes that, but we've said from Day 1 those were the choices on the table and he had to make a choice between one of the two things. ``That's not going to change.''
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Neither, it seems, is Owens.
Owens offered some insight into what prompted his banishment from camp by Reid, telling ESPN that the coach told him to ``shut up.''
``And I told him my name isn't Reid. My name is Owens. I'm not one of his kids. Don't tell me to shut up,'' Owens said.
Owens also confirmed he had an antagonistic exchange with offensive coordinator Brad Childress and that he had ``no desire to talk to Donovan'' -- as in McNabb, the quarterback.
``I've (not talked to McNabb) for 10 days since I've been in camp.''
Owens called McNabb a ``hypocrite'' because the quarterback said publicly that he did not want to meet with Owens, while T.O said McNabb did try to arrange a meeting.
When Owens was asked if he could have success with McNabb, he was even more blunt, saying, ``I don't think so and I'm just being honest.''
McNabb, through a team spokesman, responded: ``I don't play that game in the media.''
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ysptblbdr2><TABLE class=yspwhitebg cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>
<SMALL>AP - Aug 10, 8:23 pm EDT</SMALL>
More Photos</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>When asked if the dispute between Owens and the Eagles could be worked out, he simply said, ``My attitude is not going to change.''
That's not going to be good enough for Reid and the Eagles.
Owens' time away from training camp won't end until he meets with Reid next week. He was told to go home Wednesday after a heated dispute with Reid -- and to stay there for a week.
``I'll address him on Wednesday and that's between T.O. and myself,'' Reid said.
The Eagles couldn't have been shocked over the latest twist in a controversial career. Owens told the team he wouldn't be happy when he reported if he didn't have a new contract, and said he could be disruptive in camp.
He was.
``What we see happening is exactly what he said was going to happen,'' Banner said. ``It kind of puts you in a hard position to then have any kind of deniability. You can try to blame other people if he wants, but it's a little bit of a stretch in credibility in light of what he said before he got here.''
Reid called the incident in-house business and skirted numerous questions about the playmaking, showboating Owens.
``I'll work it out with T.O. and only T.O.,'' Reid said.
Reid said there were no plans to meet with agent Drew Rosenhaus, who's been persistent in trying to get the Eagles to redo Owens' contract as he enters the second season of a seven-year, $48.97 million deal.
Owens, meanwhile, emerged periodically from his house in Moorestown, N.J., to sign autographs, to the delight of several dozen fans who passed the time throwing footballs and yelling Eagles chants.
Owens said he had not spoken to the team.
``Why would I talk to them? They gave me a week off,'' he said.
Owens also said he had to sign a ``secret waiver'' releasing the Eagles from any liability after he came back from an ankle injury to play in the Super Bowl. However, the Eagles said Owens ``absolutely did not sign a waiver'' with the team prior to the game.
The Eagles declined to comment on the rest of Owens' interview.
Reid cleared up one rumored reason for the dispute, saying he approved Owens' workout on a separate playing field from his teammates. Owens injured his groin last week and missed several practices, but had his own private 20-minute workout with the team's assistant trainer hours before he was asked to leave.
``That's part of his rehab. That had nothing to do with it,'' Reid said. Reid said Owens still had swelling in his groin and was within a day or two of returning to practice -- had he not been kicked out, of course.
