Last week I wrote about this year’s crazy college football season and now this from the NFL? 

My poster boy for NFL antics and bad sportsmanship has cleaned up his act. And I have questions - lots of them!

After last week’s “Debacle in Dallas,” or “Hurtin’ in Irvin,” in which the Cowboys were stomped by the visiting New England Patriots, we expected the Cowboys’ wheels to come off and Terrell Owens to back the bus over his team, right? 

Astonishingly – he didn’t. T.O showed signs of maturity by not going after his teammates, coaches and organization. Instead Owens was contrite and soft spoken during the press conference after getting pasted by Tom Brady’s boys at home. Is T.O. spurring a new trend in the NFL for wide receivers? Is that trend, dare I type it – respect?  

How can this be? Is this the same guy that did crunches in his driveway for the cameras? Is this the same guy that had his “publicist” basically say that he is in it for the money after his misguided suicide attempt with the famous “25 million reasons to be alive,” comment? Correct me if I am wrong here but wasn’t this the guy that was basically run out of San Francisco, took shots at every QB he has worked with and bounced from Philly. Didn’t  this guy fight with coaches to the point where his former coach wouldn’t even address him by name? 

Where is my sideshow freak? How boring is the NFL landscape going to be now that T.O. has respect? Does this spell the end of exercise bikes on the sidelines in full Tour De France gear?  

Will T.O.’s change of heart now get some of the other NFL attention hounds to fall in line? Let me guess Chad Johnson is going to announce he is no longer going delight us all with his post-touchdown celebrations, until the Bengals pull it together and start landing some notches in the left-hand column? 

And perennial crybaby and locker room pariah Randy Moss is going to be the silent on-field leader, play to his potential and on his way to disprove his critics win a championship? 

What is wrong with this picture? If the three biggest NFL drama queens suddenly stop their act, where am I going to go for my sports drama? Will I instead be forced to appreciate the electricity and excitement of the weekly violent symphony that makes up NFL games? Will I now have to celebrate players based only on their football prowess and not based on their bevy of SportsCenter sound bites, garish publicity stunts or their complete lack of effort?  

Is respect the new touchdown dance? Will “Ocho-Cinco” now act like he has been in the end zone before when he scores? Will T.O. now keep his mouth shut and get the job done? Will Randy Moss finally grow into the player we had all thought he was capable of becoming?  I am not sure how long it will last but I will take it. For the betterment of the league, I hope this is not a trend, and that each one of the aforementioned superstars has finally seen the light and will start acting like grown men. For now, I’ll just stick to winning my NFL picks, I guess.