The final score of Super Bowl 39, 24-21 wasn’t anything for the Philadelphia Eagles to smile about, but the play of receiver Terrell Owens couldn’t be frowned upon.

It was December 19 that Terrell Owens went down with a broken ankle. With such an injury many reporters said that if T.O. somehow made it back, he would only be a decoy. I guess they were wrong. Owens returned to the biggest game of the NFL season and had 9 catches for 122yds. Second only to Super Bowl MVP Deion Branch (11-133).

No one knew how much or how well T.O. would play Sunday night except T.O. “Nobody in this room knew I would play this game.” Owens said to reporters. “The power of prayer and faith will take you all the way. Nothing is impossible with God on your side.” Owens played well. Well enough to have Patriots cornerbacks shaking their heads. New England cornerback Samuel said “What that man did was incredible.” He should know, he guarded Owens most of the night.

Some reporters said that Owens could become a distraction to his teammates., If catching the ball, getting first downs and turning short gains into long ones (Owens turned 8yd catch into 36yd gain) is a distraction, the Eagles could have stood to be distracted a little more by Owens. His presence was evident on the field. He took advantage of the one on one coverage and when the Patriots did give him more attention, that left the other receivers open. He was a leader on the sideline as well. After a failed series, Owens told Donavan McNabb “Just relax.” The next series McNabb responded with a touchdown throw.

Owens let his play on the field do the talking and at the post game interviews; Owens did a little more talking. “If (that was) Brett Farve they would have called him a warrior. For me, they said I was selfish. If I’m selfish, I’m selfish because I want to help my team win.”

Even though Owens did not score a touchdown, he put them in position to score on almost every scoring possession. ESPN analyst and former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski said “T.O., you are a warrior.”

Sunday night the world saw something rare in New England winning the Super Bowl 3 out of 4 years. They also saw something rare in the heroic performance Owens had. He put his career on the line to help his team try to win the Super Bowl. You may not like Owens’ celebration dances after touchdowns. You may think he’s a little too outspoken. But you can’t deny that Sunday night he played with passion, determination and…HEART.

(Kerney is a junior communications major from Fulton, Ky.)