It was reported this evening that wide receiver Terrell Owens has landed with Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco out in Cincinnati, which now turns up the intensity for the Patriots week one match-up against the Bengals on September 12th in Foxboro.
Owens, who had recently said he was interested in playing for the Patriots, for the most part had received little to no interest this offseason from any NFL team. However as Peter King pointed out earlier today in his Tuesday edition of Monday morning quarterback, after visiting the Bengals and not consumating a deal a couple of weeks ago - it may have been a guy like quarterback Carson Palmer who knows their window of opportunity may be closing, and may have pushed the issue just a bit in hopes of having another weapon to throw to.
How he'll affect their matchup with New England this season is tough to say. Looking back, Owens didn't exactly play a big factor in either of the two games against the Bills last season. In their first meeting he caught just two passes for 46-yards, although one of them was a 27-yard reception in an exciting 25-24 win for the Patriots to kick off the season in Foxboro. While in their second meeting he caught two more passes for just 20-yards in a 17-10 win by New England out in Buffalo.
We've seen the talking back and forth between Ochocinco and Leigh Bodden on Twitter, but adding Owens to the mix will likely make the personnel matchups a little tougher for the Patriots. How they'll take him out of the game is simply one more question that we'll get to look forward to seeing, and one more reason to get a little more excited for the start of the 2010 season.
Needless to say, week one just got a little more interesting.
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