T.O. may enter Hall of Fame with his 1000 catches

As the Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens became the sixth player to reach 1,000 catches in last Sunday’s 31-3 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, he achieved a significant milestone in his 14th year of wearing NFL jersey as a professional football player and may also earn the honor to become a Hall of Famer.

“He’s done some of the things that hall of famers have done,” Hall of fame defensive back Ronnie Lott said, referring to Owens’ statistics, consistency and ability to perform in the clutch. Lott particularly noted T.O.’s 122 yards receiving while coming off ankle surgery in Philadelphia’s loss to New England in the 2005 Super Bowl. “He’s made those kinds of sacrifices, and he’s done that over a body of work,” Lott said. “And when you do something like that for that long, you’ve got to believe that his game and his play on the field has been spectacular.”

Owens also has had impressive performance in numerous other categories. He sits fourth with 14,886 yards receiving, 49 shy of passing Tim Brown. He’s third with 143 touchdowns receiving and fifth with 146 total scores. If he plays two more seasons as he intends to do, it’s likely that he could end up competing with New England Patriots’ Randy Moss to finish second behind Jerry Rice in yards receiving and catches.

Bills activate WR Hardy from PUP list

On Wednesday, on the last day of the 21-day the NFL allows the Buffalo Bills to decide whether to add wide receiver James Hardy to the 53-man roster or put him on injured reserve for the remaining season, the team decided not to waste the weapon and clear a roster room for him by releasing third-string RB Xavier Omon.

Hardy, a second-year receiver, ended his disappointing rookie season wearing Bills jersey with a torn ACL last December. However, the Bills’ coaches still believe that the 2008 second-round pick have the potential to be a major threat weapon in the red zone and will develop into a big-time target.

His being activated will fill in the hole caused by Terrell Owens’ absence if the No.1 receiver could not play this Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans after missing practices with a hip strain.