TAMPA, Fla. — Who needs T.O. anyway?

Seriously, has a team ever missed a petulant 35-year-old receiver with more baggage than Lindsay Lohan less than the Cowboys missed T.O. in their opener against Tampa?
Nope.
Every team can use T.O’s talent, but you also have to take the never-ending drama that accompanies him.
This off-season, the Cowboys decided they could win without him. For at least one game, it looks like one of Jerry Jones’ best decisions — even if it took his son, vice president Stephen Jones, several weeks to convince him.
Remember, this is the NFL. Only the bottom line matters. Everything else is irrelevant.
All you really need to know is Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin combined for eight catches, 263 yards, three touchdowns and no temper tantrums in the Cowboys’ 34-21 win over the Bucs.
“I still suck. I’m terrible,” Williams said with a smirk. “The wide receivers can’t pick up the slack by no means.”
Williams, maligned throughout the off-season, caught three passes for 86 yards and a touchdown in his best game with the Cowboys.
“It was very important to me to come out and have a good game because I have a lot of critics and even some die-hard fans who don’t believe in me,” he said. “I hope I can turn some heads, although I probably won’t turn all of them because it’s just Game 1.”
Obviously, it won’t always be as easy as the Bucs’ raggedy secondary made it for Tony Romo and his receivers.
There won’t always be busted assignments that leave Crayton wide open for an 80-yard touchdown. And most teams won’t let Williams run unchallenged down the seam for a 66-yard touchdown reception.
And we haven’t even talked about Austin’s 42-yard catch-and-run in the final minute of the first half that gave Dallas a 13-7 lead.
In the off-season, Jerry and Stephen decided the only way to consistently involve Williams, Austin and Crayton in the offense was to get rid of T.O.
When T.O. is on the field, the inclination is to get him the ball because he’s either viewed as the team’s best offensive player or you don’t want to hear his constant complaining when he doesn’t get the ball.
If T.O.’s on the team, he must be the epicenter of the offense. There’s no other alternative.
Once he was gone, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett vowed to spread the ball around. No longer would T.O. be Romo’s first, second and third option.
Well, that sounds wonderful in theory as do most things. Putting it into practice, however, is entirely different because the Cowboys still need to account for the 3,587 yards receiving and 38 touchdowns he amassed in three seasons with the Cowboys.
Last season, T.O. had 12 catches of at least 25 yards. Williams, Crayton, Austin and Sam Hurd combined for 11.
No matter what you think about T.O., his production is hard to replace — even though Jerry figured Williams would be the Cowboys’ No.1 receiver this season. The problem, of course, is that Williams only caught 19 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown after he arrived last season.
In 84 preseason plays with the first-team, Romo had one completion of more than 25 yards: Felix Jones’ 42-yard catch-and-run.
Of course, none of the off-season concerns seem like a big deal now after Romo passed for a career-high 353 yards while targeting seven receivers with his 27 pass attempts. No player received more than seven passes directed his way.
Just so you know, T.O. had at least 10 passes directed his way 18 times in three seasons in Dallas. Only 10 times did he have as few as seven passes thrown to him.
Let that marinate.
Romo tossed at least three touchdown passes for the 14th time in his career, but for the first time he threw touchdown passes to three different receivers.
Obviously, he didn’t miss T.O.
No one did.