NASHVILLE -- At 8 p.m. last Tuesday in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had a sick feeling in his stomach, perhaps his worst feelings as owner of the team.
Terrell Owens was hospitalized and initial police reports indicated a possible suicide attempt. An hour later, Jones learned Owens' health was fine, but the salesman and businessman in him knew what was to follow -- the most intense week of media scrutiny he's ever experienced. So the last forecast on his mind was a Sunday laugher of a football game in Tennessee, a 45-14 destruction of the Titans.
"On balance, at Tuesday night at 8 o'clock, if I thought I would be standing here under these circumstances, I'd take it," Jones said.
What started as a tragedy ended as a joke. Owens caught five passes for 88 yards wearing a hard shell to protect his surgically-fixed right ring finger and brushed off his weirdest week in the pros as if nothing happened. In a week in which he broke up with his fiancée, fired his trainer of seven years, needed emergency room treatment for mixing pain pills with supplements and had networks going live with his blurry medical reports, Owens treated everything as if nothing had happen.
"It's nothing other than the usual," Owens described his Sunday. "Go out there and play and try to give the team a lift, a spark."
As strange as it sounded, though, that's how Owens treated this crystal clear, warm Sunday in Nashville. He's used to living a Grand Ole Soap Opera. That's the life he's chosen.
Five days after putting a football nation on medic alert, Owens was a bit player in a 31-point blowout of the Titans and thought nothing of it. In the final two minutes, responding to cheers of "T.O., T.O." Owens looked like a conductor leading an orchestra. He waved his hands like wands and had a good time.
After the game, he took off his shoes and gave them to Titans cornerback Adam (Pacman) Jones. Why? Jones asked for them.
"I know Pacman; he's a great guy," Owens said. "He asked for my shoes and I gave them to him. He's going to have to put some tissues in those shoes. Those are some big shoes to fill."
Owens wasn't intentionally trying to make light of the situation. To him, it was just a normal Sunday. He was playing football. Privately, he'll admit to the emotions of a wild sports life that seems to be getting wilder by the year. Last year's Philadelphia Eagles experience taught him the game could be taken away from him temporarily, but Jerry Jones gave him $25 million reasons to feel his act hasn't worn thin in the NFL.
He's circled his friends this week. Former teammate Jimmy Farris, who was on the 49ers practice squad in 2001, is staying with him. He has the services of his publicist, Kim Etheredge. Owens has to be credited for playing so well despite the distractions of the week. He didn't miss a game for an injury that usually derails a receiver for about a month.
Owens said this week he took extra natural supplements to help the healing process. He had a physician visit his house to work on the right hand. Though the right hand was very swollen early in the week, the hand looked close to normal by the weekend and he impressed teammates with how well he was catching the ball under the circumstances.
"Throwing the ball to him this week, he caught the ball very well with his hands, which was very surprising to me," Drew Bledsoe said. "It really didn't look like there were any ill effects from the hand. The question mark was whether he had gotten enough practice time to really be on top of his game, but he was great."
This wasn't vintage T.O. In pre-game warmups, he had to juggle the longer throws to be able to secure receptions. That carried into the game. On the slants and screens, however, he was able to snatch the ball out of the air like normal.
He wasn't completely smooth on his best catch of the day, a 36-yarder down the Titans sideline. With 5:23 left in the second quarter, Bledsoe spotted Reynaldo Hill lined up against Owens in man coverage. In fact, Owens was rarely doubled at all Sunday. He'd get press coverage from Jones when Owens lined up right. Hill might have had some safety help behind him, but he tried to man up against Owens.
On a second-and-8 with the Cowboys leading, 14-3, Owens went down the sidelines and caught a 36-yard pass on Hill. He juggled the ball enough to get the completion before he was knocked down. To prevent a replay challenge, Bledsoe lined up in a no-huddle to get the next play off and keep the reception intact.
"It doesn't bother me," Owens said of his hand. "I ran a route on the sideline and I heard the coaches say, 'Slap his hand, slap his hand,' and I agree with it, slap my hand. Other than that, it didn't bother me at all."
With less two minutes remaining in the half, Owens burned Jones with a crossing route on what should have been an easy 7-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone. Twice, Owens juggled the ball in trying to make a two-handed catch. When the ball hit the ground, officials ruled an incompletion and replay officials in the booth didn't challenge it.
"I felt like it was a situation where I felt like I caught it," Owens said. "I feel like under two minutes, I think it was something they should have reviewed. Other than that, we won the game. That's all that matters."
Overall, Owens was on the field for 49 plays and had eight passes thrown his way. Though he wasn't physical with his run blocks, he tried to get a body on a body and push a defensive back when needed. On outside runs to his side, he would run hard on decoy routes downfield to clear out running room.
All in all, it was a solid game.
"He caught a couple of balls," Parcells said to reporters after the game. "You were there. What do you think? I was pleased with the offense."
From Jerry Jones' view from the owners box, Owens did all he expected of him. Owens' presence creates problems for secondaries because he's so big, so fast and so strong.
"I thought that Terrell would add a dimension, a release valve to drew Bledsoe's play," Jones said. "Drew would have more confidence in getting the ball out there with Terrell on the field. It's really getting the ball out quicker apart from the run after the catch and apart from making the big plays. It's a given, defenses adjust to him. When Terrell is on the field, defenses adjust, period. When they adjust, it gives more opportunities to our overall offense. He's done that in three games."
Though it might be early in the relationship, Bledsoe is getting along just fine with Owens. Of course, he's not consulting Donovan McNabb or Jeff Garcia. They'll check in next week when the Cowboys visit the Eagles.
"I like the guy," Bledsoe said of Owens. "I appreciate his professionalism on the field and the way he approaches the game. I'm going to keep throwing the ball his way because good things tend to happen."
What makes it easier for Bledsoe to like Owens is that Owens doesn't have to be his go-to receiver. That job belongs to Terry Glenn. Having Owens on one side of the field and Glenn on the other creates more man-to-man coverages.
Glenn caught five passes for 54 yards and two touchdowns thanks to the single coverage.
"This is the best one-two punch that I've had and I've had some good ones," Bledsoe said. "Terry is the guy I've said numerous times that's the best receiver I've ever thrown to and that's Pro Bowl or otherwise. He's a great receiver. He's always open. With one-on-one coverage, he's almost impossible to cover. With Terrell out there, Terry gets a lot more one-on-one coverage because they have to respect Terrell's ability."
So, believe it or not, this week's chapter of the Terrell Owens' story has a happy ending. But don't go away. It's Eagles Week. Jones and Co. is ready for another round of the Big Hype.
But this week it wasn't that dramatic.
John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.