Actually, T.O. was alone, in that his Eagles teammates were gathered more than 800 miles northeast of Lithonia, at the NovaCare Complex, beginning preparations for Monday's visit from Dallas. But they, too, were puzzling over the events of the past week, wondering whether a different detail here or there, a word or a phrase or an explanation, might have kept the team's leading receiver in the lineup.

Some Eagles - middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and defensive end Jevon Kearse among them - declared they weren't talking about T.O. yesterday. Others seemed just as interested in combing through the wreckage as the reporters were.

Cornerback Sheldon Brown recalled a party Halloween night at Kearse's house that T.O. and quarterback Donovan McNabb attended, the air carrying no hint of the turbulence that was to rock the team just a week later.

"It was a surprise, because we were all hanging out watching 'Monday Night Football,' " Brown said. "Donovan was there, T.O. was there. We had fun together. I don't know what happened. We were all there as a team. Why is that hard to believe? This is out of nowhere. You act like he showed up every day at Donovan's house to ask for a fight. It wasn't like that.

"We don't know. We have the same questions you have. What happened to make him say what he said? We don't know... He was one of my favorite teammates. I'll be honest. He always did well by me, worked the crap out of me in practice, made me better. I'm still trying to figure out the other part of it."

Owens denigrated the organization and McNabb, both familiar targets, in an ESPN interview last Thursday. On Friday, at the team's behest, he read a stilted, less-than-contrite "apology" before the TV cameras, leaving out a part that he (or agent Drew Rosenhaus) had written specifically mentioning McNabb. On Saturday, he apparently refused coach Andy Reid's request that he make amends directly to his teammates. On Sunday, the Birds lost to Washington with Owens suspended. On Monday, Reid declared that T.O. would be suspended without pay for the maximum four games, then would be paid but deactivated for the remainder of the season. On Tuesday, in front of his home in Moorestown, N.J., Owens delivered an eloquent apology that would have been entirely satisfactory 3 days earlier, but meant nothing a full day after the decision to exclude him was made and announced.

Yesterday, the NFL Players Association said it would try to get arbitrator Richard Bloch, who is scheduled to hear the case Nov. 18, to somehow make the Eagles let Owens practice and go to meetings, though the union acknowledged it couldn't force the team to activate him for games. The intent was to try to force T.O.'s release, which seems unlikely to occur before March, when the team will owe him $7.5 million in bonus money if he remains on the roster.

Now, the 4-4 Eagles are left with a much less potent offense and a lot of questions about team unity and leadership, as they struggle to save their season. They certainly don't lack motivation. As Kearse (unable to stick to his no-T.O.-talk pledge) said, they want to show people "we're the Eagles, not the Philadelphia Terrell Owenses."

No one interviewed yesterday would say that the rift with T.O., which began in the spring, diminished how McNabb is viewed as a leader. But that certainly looms as a possibility, particularly in the wake of reports Owens challenged McNabb to fight him and McNabb declined, after a brief dustup between T.O. and "team ambassador" Hugh Douglas last week.

"How would that damage his leadership? Who's the bigger man in that situation?" Brown asked yesterday. "He's still the leader. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Donovan."

Brown had a simple answer to why Owens waited until Tuesday to say the things that would have kept him on the team, had he said them Saturday or even Sunday.

"Because he didn't realize [the consequences] would be that serious," Brown said. "He's probably never had that situation happen, in his whole sports-playing career."

Tight end L.J. Smith said: "No one is above the organization. That's the message. This organization saw too much... I wish I had something bad to say about the guy. I don't. I mean, I wish he would have made the apology, in front of the team. That would have changed some things."

Wideout Greg Lewis, who developed a close relationship with Owens and spoke with him over the weekend, seemed unsure of that. He lauded T.O. as "one of the hardest workers I've been around" and "a fun guy to be around... but we have to move on."

Tight end Chad Lewis, who returned to the team yesterday from a foot injury and took Owens' roster spot, said he also spoke with T.O. in the past few days. Like Greg Lewis, Chad wouldn't disclose what they discussed. But he said that sitting home in Utah, watching the Eagles struggle with discord, was troubling.

"Donovan's a very strong leader, and he always has been," he said. "I feel badly things couldn't have worked out better [with Owens], because we made great music together as a team. But things change.

"[Owens] needs to know that the things he has said have hurt people. He's feeling that hurt now that he's not on the team anymore. Well, that same feeling is how people feel after some of the comments he's made. That's too bad. Everyone wants to have friends. Everyone wants to be cared about."

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