It's been a rough year to be a St. Louis Rams wide receiver. The likelihood of injury for members of that position group sits somewhere between the odds of Mel Kiper's hair moving and Mike Singletary going the rest of the season without saying something really stupid.
Since the draft, when there were faint whispers of the GM Billy Devaney at least kicking the tires on then-Broncos WR Brandon Marshall, the Rams have been involved in discussions to bring in several veterans at the position. That finally happened when Devaney swung a deal with the Ravens to add Mark Clayton, replacing Donnie Avery who was on IR.
Once Clayton was lost, the Rams were heavily involved in the discussion for Vincent Jackson and, more recently, Randy Moss. Back in July, Devaney and Co. were involved with Terrell Owens, the league's original antics prone receiver. Turns out...
...that the Rams weren't as interested as portrayed in some quarters.
Too bad, because T.O. is having a career renaissance with the Bengals this year. His Monday night performance of 10 receptions, 141 yards and 2 TDs was his second best game of the season, not quite on par with the 222 yard outing he had against the Ravens in week 4.
T.O. is on pace for, get this, 110 catches, 1500 yards and 14 touchdowns. That would be his highest yardage total ever, and his best total for TDs since 2007, when he was in Dallas.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but it's hard not to look at these numbers AND the Rams in a surprising fight for the NFC West title and think about what kind of impact Owens might have had in St. Louis.
Tevin made the case back in July...and in a scary bit of premonition asked what might happen in Donnie Avery had been hurt.
Of course, Avery was not hurt at that point in the season, giving the Rams front office less impetus to pursue Owens. Had they gone the other direction, you wonder what kind of impact T.O. would have on a Rams offense led by Sam Bradford.
It makes next year's draft and free agent derby that much more exciting for the Rams.