Dallas Cowboys' Williams starting to be a drag
Kevin Sherrington is a sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News.
IRVING – Just in case you thought anyone was picking on your favorite Dallas Cowboy, the NFL targeted signature defensive moves long before Roy Williams perfected the horse-collar.
Fred Williamson's hammer and Deacon Jones' head slap are illegal, and Samson went back to his cell after hanging a nasty clothesline in The Longest Yard.
Unless he gets a reprieve from the NFL on Wednesday, Williams will likewise sit out Saturday's game at Carolina, and deservedly so.
How bad has this week been for No. 31? On Sunday, he's flagged for his collar of Donovan McNabb. Monday, he's fined $35,000 and benched.
And Tuesday, he learns that 11 Cowboys have been selected as Pro Bowl starters or reserves, and he's not one of them.
The omission lends some credibility to his reputation as a safety that can't cover anymore, and now the NFL isn't so crazy about the way he tackles, either.
His coaches and teammates ought to be fed up, too. The NFL fined him twice this season and warned him in writing after the last one, and still he acted recklessly.
Even if Williams' career clearly isn't headed in the right direction, the Cowboys desperately need him.
He's not so far removed from the safety that Darren Woodson once described as the best football player he'd ever seen.
Williams can still be a load, especially hanging from your neck.
Hey, Patrick Crayton: You ever been horse-collared before?
"Not like Roy Williams does it," he said.
No one does it like Williams, which is entirely the point. Other players have used the technique, but not as frequently or with the same catastrophic results. They don't call it the Hannibal Navies Rule, anyway.
Before the NFL outlawed the horse-collar when outside the tackle box, Williams injured four players, including Terrell Owens. The gruesome snap of Musa Smith's right tibia was so pronounced, reporters on the sideline of the Baltimore game could hear it.
The rate and severity of those injuries demanded that the NFL take action. And if the timing of his suspension seems unfair?
"This is a bad way to be entering a critical game," Greg Ellis said.
But whose fault is that? The commissioner's or Williams'? Once the league issues an ultimatum in writing, it can't very well ignore it.
In Williams' defense, teammates made several good points Tuesday: No one cares what's going on in the line, where offensive linemen chop at legs as if they were saplings; the horse-collar rule has gray areas, including where it's legal, and everything coming out of the NFL office these days favors the offense.
"It's a split-second decision," added Akin Ayodele, the linebacker. "Should I dive and grab the guy, or should I let him go?"
How about this: Grab him around the hips or thighs or calves or ankles, hold on and see what happens.
Granted, the horse-collar is quicker and more effective. But so is tripping or grabbing a facemask, and you can't do either of those, either.
For that matter, if Williams gets close enough to grab a player by his collar, he's not diving to do it.
Still, players don't always see the game the way fans and media and officials do. Ayodele makes an interesting case. By risking a fine and suspension, Williams demonstrates that he's looking out for the team's best interests, not his own.
"I'd rather take the fine," Ayodele said, "than let my teammates down."
But Williams is doing exactly that by getting suspended, which was unnecessary.
By giving up the horse-collar, Williams doesn't have to simply stop and wave.
As his head coach pointed out, he's been involved in more than a hundred tackles this season. Only three have been illegal. He's capable of other styles.
He didn't make his reputation on horse-collars coming out of Oklahoma, where he was one of the game's best players. He made big plays in college, and he's made them in the NFL, too.
But they weren't plays that called into question whether he's a dirty player.
For the record, I don't think he is. But now he probably has to prove it. And doing so means he doesn't jeopardize his reputation or his team's playoff road in the process.
IRVING – Just in case you thought anyone was picking on your favorite Dallas Cowboy, the NFL targeted signature defensive moves long before Roy Williams perfected the horse-collar.
Fred Williamson's hammer and Deacon Jones' head slap are illegal, and Samson went back to his cell after hanging a nasty clothesline in The Longest Yard.
Unless he gets a reprieve from the NFL on Wednesday, Williams will likewise sit out Saturday's game at Carolina, and deservedly so.
How bad has this week been for No. 31? On Sunday, he's flagged for his collar of Donovan McNabb. Monday, he's fined $35,000 and benched.
And Tuesday, he learns that 11 Cowboys have been selected as Pro Bowl starters or reserves, and he's not one of them.
The omission lends some credibility to his reputation as a safety that can't cover anymore, and now the NFL isn't so crazy about the way he tackles, either.
His coaches and teammates ought to be fed up, too. The NFL fined him twice this season and warned him in writing after the last one, and still he acted recklessly.
Even if Williams' career clearly isn't headed in the right direction, the Cowboys desperately need him.
He's not so far removed from the safety that Darren Woodson once described as the best football player he'd ever seen.
Williams can still be a load, especially hanging from your neck.
Hey, Patrick Crayton: You ever been horse-collared before?
"Not like Roy Williams does it," he said.
No one does it like Williams, which is entirely the point. Other players have used the technique, but not as frequently or with the same catastrophic results. They don't call it the Hannibal Navies Rule, anyway.
Before the NFL outlawed the horse-collar when outside the tackle box, Williams injured four players, including Terrell Owens. The gruesome snap of Musa Smith's right tibia was so pronounced, reporters on the sideline of the Baltimore game could hear it.
The rate and severity of those injuries demanded that the NFL take action. And if the timing of his suspension seems unfair?
"This is a bad way to be entering a critical game," Greg Ellis said.
But whose fault is that? The commissioner's or Williams'? Once the league issues an ultimatum in writing, it can't very well ignore it.
In Williams' defense, teammates made several good points Tuesday: No one cares what's going on in the line, where offensive linemen chop at legs as if they were saplings; the horse-collar rule has gray areas, including where it's legal, and everything coming out of the NFL office these days favors the offense.
"It's a split-second decision," added Akin Ayodele, the linebacker. "Should I dive and grab the guy, or should I let him go?"
How about this: Grab him around the hips or thighs or calves or ankles, hold on and see what happens.
Granted, the horse-collar is quicker and more effective. But so is tripping or grabbing a facemask, and you can't do either of those, either.
For that matter, if Williams gets close enough to grab a player by his collar, he's not diving to do it.
Still, players don't always see the game the way fans and media and officials do. Ayodele makes an interesting case. By risking a fine and suspension, Williams demonstrates that he's looking out for the team's best interests, not his own.
"I'd rather take the fine," Ayodele said, "than let my teammates down."
But Williams is doing exactly that by getting suspended, which was unnecessary.
By giving up the horse-collar, Williams doesn't have to simply stop and wave.
As his head coach pointed out, he's been involved in more than a hundred tackles this season. Only three have been illegal. He's capable of other styles.
He didn't make his reputation on horse-collars coming out of Oklahoma, where he was one of the game's best players. He made big plays in college, and he's made them in the NFL, too.
But they weren't plays that called into question whether he's a dirty player.
For the record, I don't think he is. But now he probably has to prove it. And doing so means he doesn't jeopardize his reputation or his team's playoff road in the process.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:26 PM
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