Owens opens up about rocky tenure with Eagles

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Its been nearly six years since Terrell Owens played his last game in an Eagles uniform. It was Oct. 30, 2005, to be exact, when he caught three Donovan McNabb passes for 154 yards, including a meaningless 91-yard touchdown, in a game the Eagles lost 49-21 to the Broncos in Denver.

Two days later, the Eagles suspended Owens for conduct detrimental to the team, effectively ending his tumultuous stay in Philly after just 22 games.

Even though Owens has been gone for six years and played for three more teamsthe Cowboys from 2006 through 2008, the Bills in 2009, the Bengals last yearhe remains one of the most intriguing figures in recent Philly sports history.

On Tuesday night, Owens appeared on NFL Total Access on the NFL Network and spoke about his rocky relationship with McNabb and his brief but eventful tenure with the Eagles.

Would I have done some things differently? Yeah, Owens said, speaking generally about his career. But I dont regret anything. Maybe Im talking out of both sides of my mouth when I say that, but Ive been very honest about the things that have happened. As the years have unfolded, what Ive said and what I went through, people are now starting to see that with the certain situations that Ive been through. Again, Ive always been an honest person.

Owens, now a free agent, held a personal workout on Tuesday as he tries to revive his career but no NFL teams showed up. Theres a possibility his career is over after 1,078 catches, 15,934 yards and 153 touchdown catches.

Owens ranks sixth in NFL history in catches, second to Jerry Rice in receiving yards and tied with Randy Moss for second to Rice in TD catches.

His 122 yards in the 2004 Super Bowl are third-most ever in a playoff game by an Eagle, behind Jeremy Maclins 146 yards in a 2009 wild-card loss to the Cowboys and Keith Jacksons 142 yards in the Fog Bowl, the conference semifinal loss in 1988 to the Bears.

Asked specifically what he would change about his 15-year career, Owens immediately spoke about his 1 -year stay in Philadelphia.

I would go back in the Philly situation and probably go in and talk to Andy Reid and try to hash some of those things out, Owens said. But there was so much said about the fact that it was me and Donovan, me against Donovan. I never had one gripe about Donovan.

There were a lot of things that were said and done in the heat of the moment. For myself, Im a very prideful person and I know if Im telling the truth. Sometimes, a lot of people dont want to hear the truth. Im going to be the scapegoat. There are a lot of things that Ive said that the timing of it could have been a lot different. ...

But Ive moved on from that and those are some of the things that Ive tried to get my point across. Im a very honest person. If you ask me something, Im going to be straight up about it, Im going to be open and honest about it. I didnt go to school to be a politician, Ive never been politically correct and I think thats probably been a fault of mine. My grandmother raised me that way and from that standpoint I dont regret anything because thats how I was raised and I love my grandmother very dearly.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.

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