Emmitt Smith Thinks Cowboys Will Struggle to Replace Terrell Owens

In February, ESPN mercifully pulled the plug on Emmitt Smith's television career. I think they did it as much for him as for us. Either way, thanks, World Wide Leader. But the NFL rushing leader still has opinions, and when asked, he'll happily share them. Especially if it involves the Cowboys, a team Smith helped win three Super Bowls in the 1990s.

At a Tuesday news conference in Arlington, Texas, Smith talked about the direction of the 2009 club -- one that managed to miss the playoffs last season, and, the year before, lost in the divisional round after a 13-3 record -- and he didn't sound impressed. A lot of that, it seems, has to do with Jerry Jones' decision to cut Terrell Owens.

"Addition by subtraction?" Smith said. "Put it this way: I don't know the nuances of the locker room and all those kind of things, but I just know that guy is a player, and there are ways that they could have worked together.

"I don't know if he was a scapegoat or whatever it was, but I tell you what, he was a talent. He was a talent, and he didn't get in any trouble, didn't create any issues. Whenever he had the opportunity to make plays, he pretty much made them. He may have said some things at times that were kind of stupid, but we all do that.

Smith's right: Owens was the Cowboys' most explosive player during his three-year stint in Dallas. The problem was all the other stuff -- the off-field distractions, the "90210"-type drama, the love feuds with Ed Werder. Even for the Cowboys, a team accustomed to the unyielding media glare, it got to be a bit much. At least that was the perception after Jones signed Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson the last two years, only to release anyone remotely controversial earlier this spring.

But unlike Pacman and Tank, T.O. -- as Smith rightly pointed out -- never got in trouble. (Plenty of folks might want to debate whether he "create[d] any issues." Duly noted.) Whatever, Owens is now in Buffalo making movies and Jones plans to fill that void with Roy Williams, the wide receiver he acquired from the Lions last October.

Smith remains confused about how the Cowboys will make up for T.O.'s lost productivity.

"Bottom line is, I'm not sure [if cutting Owens makes the Cowboys better]. Who do they have who is going to be that explosive? That's the question. Who do you have that's going to be that explosive? I don't see it."

When told that Roy Williams was going to replace Owens as the No. 1 receiver, Smith said: "Like I said, who do you have that's going to be that explosive?"

Again, I'm with Emmitt. According to Football Outsiders, in 2007, Owens ranked fifth in overall value for all NFL wideouts; Williams was 47th. Some of that is correlated to who's throwing the passes, but looking at last season, when Owens and Williams played together, the results are just as uninspiring: T.O. fell to 56th, Williams was 75th.

There are two ways to look at the 2008 numbers: Owens isn't as "explosive" as Smith and everybody else seem to think, and the Cowboys were smart to let him go. Or: Owens might have had an off year, but Williams was much worse. And now he's the de facto No. 1 receiver.

For the glass-half-full set, there's this: it doesn't really matter who lines up at wideout because Tony Romo is throwing to ball to Jason Witten 25 times a game anyway.*

* That's a joke. Relax, people.