Williams hasn't found stride yet
by CEDRIC GOLDEN
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF , Austin American-Statesman
IRVING - Roy Williams always dreamed of playing for the Dallas Cowboys .
What Texan wouldn't want to wear that blue star, especially one who played for the Texas Longhorns?
And Roy is as Lone Star as they come. The Longhorns great is about as country as crops. He sported a button-down Texas flag shirt in the locker room Thursday, and when he's not wearing a Cowboys helmet, he's easy to spot. He's the black guy in the black felt cowboy hat.
Truth be known, this dude would love nothing better than to retire one day to the West Texas flatlands and keep the mojo going for the Odessa Permian Panthers for the next 30 years.
That's Roy Williams. A great talent. And a great Texan.
But that great talent, that great Texan, hasn't lived up to his potential as a Dallas Cowboy . Not yet.
Owner Jerry Jones brought him in here to be the heir apparent to Terrell Owens, and Jones did it at a stiff price - three draft picks, first-, third- and sixth-rounders. And while he's part of an offense that's loaded at each skill position, Williams has yet to put up numbers becoming of the one in a three-for-one trade.
"He's playing really instinctively, which means he's starting to get some confidence with his assignments,'' Jones said. "You can see the defenses are starting to account for him out there."
Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett should do the same. Williams caught two passes for 51 yards in the Cowboys' 34-9 Thanksgiving Day win over Seattle. That was seven fewer catches than tight end Jason Witten and four fewer than a guy named John Carlson who plays for the Seahawks. He did take a handoff around right end for 13 yards, giving him three touches for 64 yards. That's an average of 21.3 yards per attempt, but his impact would be bigger with more touches.
The Cowboys are 8-4 now and have steadied things a bit with blowout wins over San Francisco and Seattle. Excluding injuries to running back Marion Barber and linebacker DeMarcus Ware, the team has to like its chances of making it to the playoffs with four regular-season games remaining, even if two are against Super Bowl contenders in the Steelers and Giants.
All things considered, Dallas is in a good place, but Williams' lack of production is a head-scratcher. Since coming over from Detroit six games ago, he has only 11 catches for 161 yards and one touchdown, not exactly numbers that will get the folks in Canton, Ohio, buzzing. He's a good player in a talented offense, but he has yet to deliver that one signature performance that would lead Cowboy fans to believe the franchise's receiving future is in good hands.
Maybe it's time for him to demand more touches.
After complaining about getting only three carries against the Jets, Tennessee's LenDale White had 23 against Detroit on Thursday.
Last week, Terrell Owens bellyached to Deion Sanders that the Cowboys weren't getting him the ball enough. Since then, he has caught 12 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns.
So what gives with Williams? Even Martellus Bennett has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games. Williams, a college receiving legend who was delivered from the NFL's version of hell, hasn't found his stride in Dallas yet.
So I had to ask him after the game: When will the Cowboys unleash Roy Williams?
"They don't have to unleash me," he said.
Is it the playbook? Have you committed that complicated Dallas offense to memory?
"Man, I've already swallowed that thing whole."
Give him credit for one thing. Williams never complained to the media when he was playing in Austin, and he's not about to start in Dallas, even if he is feeling underutilized. Maybe he should start, though . After all, he is a wide receiver, and wideouts must be fed passes if they want to feed their families.
When a reporter asked Tony Romo about how cool it was to have a guy like Roy Williams, who just goes about his business and doesn't care if the throws aren't coming his way, the quarterback gave a not-so-surprising answer.
"He cares,'' Romo said. "Roy still wants the ball just like T.O. wants the ball and just like (Patrick Crayton) wants the ball. They just do a good job of hiding it from you guys sometimes. He's a high-character guy who runs great routes and has great hands. I'm really excited about this offense moving forward."
Williams is a proud man who knows the keys to the kingdom will be handed to him when Owens decides to leave the game. When Jones was asked if it would take a full training camp for Williams to establish himself in Dallas, Jones said, "No, not at all. You will see big things from Roy this season."
We're at six games.
And counting.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF , Austin American-Statesman
IRVING - Roy Williams always dreamed of playing for the Dallas Cowboys .
What Texan wouldn't want to wear that blue star, especially one who played for the Texas Longhorns?
And Roy is as Lone Star as they come. The Longhorns great is about as country as crops. He sported a button-down Texas flag shirt in the locker room Thursday, and when he's not wearing a Cowboys helmet, he's easy to spot. He's the black guy in the black felt cowboy hat.
Truth be known, this dude would love nothing better than to retire one day to the West Texas flatlands and keep the mojo going for the Odessa Permian Panthers for the next 30 years.
That's Roy Williams. A great talent. And a great Texan.
But that great talent, that great Texan, hasn't lived up to his potential as a Dallas Cowboy . Not yet.
Owner Jerry Jones brought him in here to be the heir apparent to Terrell Owens, and Jones did it at a stiff price - three draft picks, first-, third- and sixth-rounders. And while he's part of an offense that's loaded at each skill position, Williams has yet to put up numbers becoming of the one in a three-for-one trade.
"He's playing really instinctively, which means he's starting to get some confidence with his assignments,'' Jones said. "You can see the defenses are starting to account for him out there."
Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett should do the same. Williams caught two passes for 51 yards in the Cowboys' 34-9 Thanksgiving Day win over Seattle. That was seven fewer catches than tight end Jason Witten and four fewer than a guy named John Carlson who plays for the Seahawks. He did take a handoff around right end for 13 yards, giving him three touches for 64 yards. That's an average of 21.3 yards per attempt, but his impact would be bigger with more touches.
The Cowboys are 8-4 now and have steadied things a bit with blowout wins over San Francisco and Seattle. Excluding injuries to running back Marion Barber and linebacker DeMarcus Ware, the team has to like its chances of making it to the playoffs with four regular-season games remaining, even if two are against Super Bowl contenders in the Steelers and Giants.
All things considered, Dallas is in a good place, but Williams' lack of production is a head-scratcher. Since coming over from Detroit six games ago, he has only 11 catches for 161 yards and one touchdown, not exactly numbers that will get the folks in Canton, Ohio, buzzing. He's a good player in a talented offense, but he has yet to deliver that one signature performance that would lead Cowboy fans to believe the franchise's receiving future is in good hands.
Maybe it's time for him to demand more touches.
After complaining about getting only three carries against the Jets, Tennessee's LenDale White had 23 against Detroit on Thursday.
Last week, Terrell Owens bellyached to Deion Sanders that the Cowboys weren't getting him the ball enough. Since then, he has caught 12 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns.
So what gives with Williams? Even Martellus Bennett has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games. Williams, a college receiving legend who was delivered from the NFL's version of hell, hasn't found his stride in Dallas yet.
So I had to ask him after the game: When will the Cowboys unleash Roy Williams?
"They don't have to unleash me," he said.
Is it the playbook? Have you committed that complicated Dallas offense to memory?
"Man, I've already swallowed that thing whole."
Give him credit for one thing. Williams never complained to the media when he was playing in Austin, and he's not about to start in Dallas, even if he is feeling underutilized. Maybe he should start, though . After all, he is a wide receiver, and wideouts must be fed passes if they want to feed their families.
When a reporter asked Tony Romo about how cool it was to have a guy like Roy Williams, who just goes about his business and doesn't care if the throws aren't coming his way, the quarterback gave a not-so-surprising answer.
"He cares,'' Romo said. "Roy still wants the ball just like T.O. wants the ball and just like (Patrick Crayton) wants the ball. They just do a good job of hiding it from you guys sometimes. He's a high-character guy who runs great routes and has great hands. I'm really excited about this offense moving forward."
Williams is a proud man who knows the keys to the kingdom will be handed to him when Owens decides to leave the game. When Jones was asked if it would take a full training camp for Williams to establish himself in Dallas, Jones said, "No, not at all. You will see big things from Roy this season."
We're at six games.
And counting.
posted by The Gryphon at 9:16 AM
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