Freddie Mitchell and Terrell Owens are a couple of former Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers who haven’t always been embraced by Philly fans since leaving the franchise. But when Mitchell interviewed Owens today on 97.5 the Fanatic, it was a love fest in which Owens said there are no better fans than the ones in Philadelphia.
“No disrespect at all to Buffalo, I would have to give it to Philly,” said Owens when asked whether Bills fans or Eagles fans are better. “Both organizations’ fans embraced me with open arms but I never felt anything like when I stood in Lincoln Financial Field and heard 75,000 fans chant my name.”
Owens and Mitchell both took some swipes at Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, with Owens suggesting that McNabb is the reason he left and Mitchell hinting that he wished McNabb would have played as well in the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss to the Patriots as Owens did.
“The city wasn’t big enough for two people,” Owens said. “Freddie can attest to my character, my interactions with the team and the way I carried myself in the locker room, and I have no regrets about anything. Would I have liked to have continued staying there and playing? Of course I would have. But it’s unfortunate that a few things happened.”
Said Mitchell of the Super Bowl, “T came to the game and he was prepared and everything else, and for whatever reason I didn’t see a sense of urgency coming from Five.”
Mitchell isn’t exactly a Mike Wallace-style interviewer, and at one point Mitchell’s co-host Dan Schwartzman had to ask him to stop kissing Owens’ behind. But Mitchell repeatedly stated that Owens would be welcomed back if he wanted to return to Philadelphia and sign with the Eagles.
“They loved you,” Mitchell told Owens. “They loved you here.”
Owens will be a free agent after this season and says he has a few more years left in him, although he called Mitchell’s suggestion that he could be an Eagle next year “a little far-fetched.”
“If I could, would I like to play in Philly? Who knows,” Owens said. “I’m just focusing on my last year here in Buffalo . . . these last four games.”
Still, Owens knows he has a better shot of playing for the Eagles again than Mitchell does. Owens says he can picture a scenario in which both he and Mitchell are back at Lincoln Financial Field, but with a twist.
“I’ll be playing,” Owens said. “And Freddie will be attempting to sing the national anthem.”