“Dallas lost that game when Roy Williams dropped that pass and then fumbled, too,” said Bradshaw, a cohose of FOX’s NFL Sunday show. “He may have finished with 100 yards receiving, but he’s certainly not worth two first-round picks and all that money Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is paying him. He’s not proving anything.”
As usual, Bradshaw is a little confused. The Cowboys didn’t trade two first round picks for Williams – they traded a first, third and a sixth round pick for him.
That said, I don’t disagree with what Bradshaw says – nor does any Dallas fan for that matter because Bradshaw is pointing out the obvious. Looking back at things, Williams was probably overrated coming into the league. He’s never had top-end speed and has always been injury-prone.
Looking back at his numbers throughout the years, he’s only posted one 1,000-yard season in his career and that was in 2006 when he caught 82 passes for 1,310 yards. That was also the only season in which Williams played all 16 games.
People talk about Braylon Edwards being a one-year fluke – what about Williams?
Cowboys receiver Roy Williams is a little irritable these days. According to him, he and quarterback Tony Romo aren’t on the same page and he doesn’t want to hear that Miles Austin is now Dallas’ No. 1 receiver.
After putting in a lot of extra offseason work with quarterback Tony Romo, Williams is stunned they haven’t made more progress.
“It’s just not even close,” Williams said. “It’s not even funny. Not even close.”
Williams does not believe his poor production accurately portrays his performance.
“I’m the No. 1 receiver,” Williams said. “But things are just going No. 2’s way.”
“He gets the ball thrown correctly his way,” Williams said of Austin. “I’m stretching and falling and doing everything. Everybody [else] who’s been here’s balls are there. Our footballs [from Romo to Williams] are everywhere right now.”
Williams has been dealing with a rib injury he suffered earlier in the year in a loss to the Broncos, so that could be causing some issues. That said, you watch Williams and Romo play on Sundays and the connection just isn’t there. These two have zero chemistry and it doesn’t look like it’ll improve anytime soon.
It’s interesting that yet another receiver is having issues with Romo. But one would think that if Austin can develop good chemistry with Romo, so could Williams.
Following his one catch performance in last Sunday night’s 33-31 loss to the Giants, Dallas wideout Roy Williams is frustrated that he’s not being used like a No. 1 receiver.
Williams doesn’t deny being frustrated with his lack of involvement. He was only thrown to four times against the Giants.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Williams said. “I feel like I’m a playmaker. I run my route and hopefully the ball will be there. If not, I move on to the next play, then move on to the next one.”
Williams said he was not criticizing quarterback Tony Romo and remains confident in Romo to lead the Cowboys and get him the ball.
Williams didn’t let his lack of involvement affect his play on the field. His down-field blocking keyed the 251-yard rushing effort against the Giants.
“That’s what was working for us,” he said. “There are going to be games like that.”
This doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal now, so I won’t try to spin the situation into something it’s not. But it is interesting that we’re only two games into a new season and already a Cowboy receiver is venting his frustration with his role in the offense.
Is Romo keying on certain guys or is Jason Garrett’s offense not doing enough to get the No. 1 receiver involved more? Owens complained about not getting more opportunities to make catches last year and everyone wrote it off as T.O. being T.O. It’ll be interesting to see if Williams’ complaints get louder and louder throughout the season.
Dallas had concerns about the chemistry between quarterback Tony Romo and receiver Roy Williams entering the season. After releasing Terrell Owens in the offseason, the Cowboys were praying that Romo and Williams (whom the team acquired from Detroit in exchange for a first round pick last season) would develop a connection.
The Cowboys’ fears about the tandem were quelled early in the game on Sunday when Romo connected with Williams twice for 20 yards during a nine-play, 31-yard dive that ended with a Nick Folk 51-yard field goal. Romo also found Williams on a beautiful 66-yard touchdown pass early in the second half to give Dallas a 20-7 lead.
On the day, Romo finished with 353 yards on 16 of 27 passing and three touchdowns, while Williams caught three passes for 86 yards and a TD. Patrick Crayton had a productive day as well, as he hauled in four passes for 135 yards and also caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Romo early in the fourth.
Four games are on the Week 1 NFL preseason schedule tonight and there are some interesting headlines to follow. Below are six quick-hit thoughts on tonight’s action.
1. Brady returns to live action
The last time Tom Brady took a snap in a live NFL game, he tore both his MCL and ACL after suffering a season-ending hit in Week 1 of the 2008 season. Brady returns to action tonight and will start against the Eagles in Philadelphia. He probably won’t get more than a series or two, but if everything goes well, it’ll be yet another promising sign that Brady has recovered from the devastating knee injury that almost ruined his career.
2. Is Flacco in store for a major sophomore slump?
Reports out of Baltimore haven’t been promising for second-year quarterback Joe Flacco, who has struggled in the passing game thus far in training camp. He apparently has struggled reading defenses, is missing open receivers and has thrown a high number of interceptions. The Ravens would like to open the playbook more in Flacco’s second year, but if his struggles carry into the preseason, then the team might have to scale back his responsibilities and once again make him more of a game-manager like he was as a rookie.
3. How will the T.O.-less Cowboys look?
During the offseason, one of the main reasons the Cowboys cut toxic (but highly productive) receiver Terrell Owens was so that quarterback Tony Romo wouldn’t have any distractions entering the 2009 season. Dallas wants Romo to step up and be more of a leader both in the locker room and on the field and it would appear that the 29-year-old’s career is at a crossroads. One preseason game in Oakland isn’t going to answer whether or not Romo is ready to become the leader that Dallas wants him to be, but it’ll be interesting to see how well he gels with his receivers without T.O. commanding his attention. Apparently Romo and Roy Williams are finally starting to get their timing down.
In Jones, Cincinnati had been looking for the opportunity to give up on the former top 10 pick for a couple of years now and after drafting Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith with the No. 8 overall selection in last month’s draft, they finally had a reason to. Jones is still relatively young at only 29, but he has major durability issues and has largely underachieved throughout his career. He’ll catch on somewhere because he plays such a needed position in the NFL, but it might not be until later this summer after teams have had a chance to evaluate the talent that is already on their roster.
As for Williams, he reunites with his former Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati, but it remains to be seen if he can beat out Nedu Ndukwe at the strong safety position. Williams is fantastic in run support, but equally brutal in pass coverage and doesn’t exhibit a ton of range. Still, this was a low-risk signing and maybe Zimmer can get the most out of what is left of Williams’ career.
Well the Cowboys are full of spunk today, aren’t they?
Following the release of wide receiver Terrell Owens early this morning, Dallas has decided to part ways with safety Roy “Horse Collar” Williams, too, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Cowboys saved a little over $2 million in cap space by cutting the safety now.
Dallas was trying to find a trade partner for Williams the past two weeks, but obviously they didn’t have much luck. Williams broke his forearm twice last year, but at 28 he still has a couple of productive years left in him. The problem is, he’s essentially an extra linebacker playing safety because he couldn’t cover a one-legged Fat Albert.
Williams is worth a look for any team that struggled against the run last year because he flies to the football and does his best work around the line of scrimmage. He’d be a good fit for a team that maybe has a developing young safety, but whose run defense could also use a boost. Once again though, he’s absolutely brutal in coverage and gets lost when the ball is in the air.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Williams was picked up before Owens is. The need for safeties in the NFL is enormous and there are a couple of veterans on the market that should be signed soon, including Mike Brown, Jermaine Phillips and Darren Sharper. Surprisingly, Sean Jones is still on the market as well, and the Browns have showed little urgency to retain the 27-year old, who might just be the best strong safety available.
A couple of the Cowboys’ wide receivers (presumably Terrell Owens, Roy Williams and Patrick Crayton) held a meeting with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett about their role in the Dallas offense compared to tight end Jason Witten, who they say quarterback Tony Romo favors because the two are buddies.
At issue is the perception that Romo relies too heavily on tight end and best friend Jason Witten, and doesn’t always throw to the open man. The breaking point was Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, in which the Cowboys blew a 13-3 fourth-quarter lead in the final 7 minutes, 15 seconds.
Romo was throwing to Witten on the final interception. Owens openly acknowledges he was open on the play and complained vociferously on the sideline during the game. Romo also missed a wide-open Crayton down the seam on the final drive of the game, and then threw incomplete to Witten on the final play when Crayton was also open.
Crayton said it was a good meeting, a needed meeting, in the interest of trying to win games and have a better offense.
He said they weren’t complaining because they went in with a positive tone and had a frank and honest discussion.
Romo, who talks on Wednesday, was not available for comment.
The Dallas wideouts need to freaking grow up. This isn’t backyard football where you focus on getting the ball to your friends – this is the NFL. I highly doubt Romo is only focusing on getting the ball to Witten. And T.O. saying he was open on the final play in Pittsburgh is no surprise because, well, he’s always open.
Considering the Cowboys are on the brink of making the playoffs but face an incredibly tough final stretch of games, you’d think the team would come together instead of some players holding meetings and complaining about not getting the ball enough.
SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has the story of Roy Williams and his hilarious choice for Halloween costume.
Everyone had a good laugh, but what about the butt of the joke: the still jobless Tatum Bell? Williams said he texted Bell asking him if it was cool, and received the go-ahead. If true, that means that Bell has managed to grown a sense of humor in the two months since he took the bags and snuck out of Ford Field like a child taking his ball and going home.
The Lions annual Halloween party seems to be more mean-spirited than most. The stars of last year were Jon Kitna and his wife, dressed up as defensive coach Joe Cullen and Wendy, from the restaurant. Cullen had been arrested for, among other things, picking up an order from the Wendy’s drive-thru window naked. Here’s that costume:
They may be winless, but it’s hard to argue with the Lions’ players sense of humor on Halloween. Williams’ mock costume of Bell is priceless!
Brad Johnson wasn’t very impressive (he missed open receivers the entire game), but unlike the loss to the Rams last week, he didn’t turn the ball over and thus, allowed the defense to win the game. And his touchdown pass to newcomer Roy Williams before the half proved to be the difference in the end at least in terms of the score.
Speaking of the Dallas defense, they deserve a ton of credit for finally rising to the challenge this week. They’ve been rightfully hammered by the media due to their poor play, but they forced Tampa to settle for field goals on multiple occasions throughout the game. They also came up with a huge fourth down stop when Jeff Garcia had driven the Bucs into scoring range with under a minute to go.
Forget Tony Romo – he’ll be back soon and he’ll obviously he’ll provide a huge boost to the offense. What the Cowboys really need is a defensive effort similar to the one they got today. If they do, there’s no reason to think that Dallas won’t be legitimate Super Bowl contenders again soon.
