Terrell Owens May Be Out Of Entire Preseaon With MRI (AP and SI)

It may be that T.O.'s injury is worse than we realiize, or that the Dallas Cowboys are using this as a kind of trick to keep him from being on anyone's tape during preseason. The result: no idea of what the Cowboys are going to do with him in the offense. If this is the case, it's genius.

Jones: T.O. might have another MRI

Posted: Tuesday August 22, 2006 7:23AM; Updated: Tuesday August 22, 2006 7:23AM

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) -- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Monday night that receiver Terrell Owens may have another MRI exam taken to see why his hamstring continues to bother him after weeks of treatment.

"Certainly it is sore and he is going to be working to improve that," Jones said during halftime of Dallas' preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. "We will be evaluating it more tomorrow."

The hamstring has bothered Owens since the first week of training camp. He missed the first preseason game, then returned to practice last week, but not enough for coach Bill Parcells to clear him to play against the Saints.

Jones said he's not sure whether Owens will be on the field when the team returns to practice Wednesday, which means he could also miss the next preseason game, at home Saturday night against San Francisco.

"Soft tissue is such a hard thing to get definitive about," Jones said. "You don't need an MRI to understand it is compromising and bothering him. The main thing is it is not firing. He needs to get to a point where it fires."

Jones said it's wrong to think Owens skipped a practice Saturday because he was angry that Parcells ruled him out of the Saints game.

"That's humorous," Jones said. "There is no substance to that. That is not the deal. Terrell and Bill are on the same page. They both want him to be out there and without risk of him further hurting his ham. There is no issue here about them being off the page."

The Cowboys led the Saints 17-0 at halftime, with quarterback Drew Bledsoe throwing touchdown passes to Terry Glenn and rookie Sam Hurd, who has worked a lot with Owens during training camp. It was Bledsoe's first action of the preseason after also being held out of the opener; he went 12-of-16 for 156 yards, leading Dallas to three scores in four drives.

Bledsoe sat out a victory against Seattle last weekend because Parcells wanted to give plenty of work to backup Tony Romo. That's prompted speculation of Bledsoe's job being in jeopardy -- something else Jones downplayed.

"I've never heard any debate about that from anyone on our staff," Jones said.