Bob's blog; 1310---His take on # 31

[chicago JK]

Roy, Get Off the Field!

Roy Williams. Just say the name and you get an opinion. Not since the prime of Derian Hatcher has North Texas had a player who was both loved and hated by his fan base. You talk about him and some people will defend him as the greatest player to ever walk the earth, and another group will tell you he should be unemployed.

There are many things he can do, and seemingly an equal number of things he cannot do.

And once again Sunday, he has provided himself to be the lightning rod. What concerns me is not what we think. What really bothers me is that he appears to now be target #1 of the opposing QB. This is not created by fans, or message boards, or talk shows. If it was, then the game plans of teams across this league would not be devising plans to expose him. And I find it quite obvious in the last several games, Cowboys opponents are looking for Roy, and then throwing it right at him to pick on the Cowboys most obvious weakness.

Solutions are not tough to come by. We have heard many. Convert him to Linebacker. Find a better Free Safety. Teach him better coverage skills. And so on and so on…

Here is my new solution for Wade Phillips and his staff. Take him off the Field on 3rd Down and Long.

That is right, your captain, one of your richest players, and the guy who has sold more jerseys than anyone since Emmitt, needs to stand on the sideline when the Nickel Defense is on the field.

The Nickel is brought in when there are passing situations at hand. 3rd and Long is the most likely spot where you would not need him up at the line of scrimmage. You would want both of your safeties deep in a “Cover 2” spot, and this is being exposed as now the QB can see Roy, and send receivers to him and around him. His run support is not going to help on 3rd and 8. In fact, you would invite them to run if they dare.

Let’s not forget the objective of defense: To stop the opponent and get off the field. Not to continue to enhance a player’s ego. Not to help your player get to the Pro Bowl. No, it is to stop the opponent, and get off the field.

So, when I am in Nickel, I want my 3 best CBs, along with Ken Hamlin and Patrick Watkins both covering half of the field deep.

And I want Roy Williams when he can not be exposed anymore…On the sideline.

Not every play, just on 3rd and Long or when I think my opponent will be looking for him. It is the only solution at this point.

Do you think this is a new problem? Here are my thoughts from September 7th, 2005 …when I was looking back at his problems from 2004!

 

[Alexander]

The solution is not to bench him.

The player we have in reserve is worse (Keith Davis). But the point with 3rd down is correct. It shouldn't be a problem if he is pulled for that duty. Until he shows he can make plays blitzing or in coverage, his role should be reduced if things do not change.

Overall, what needs to be done is change the way that Williams is handled. He needs to be challenged. He needs to be held and assume more accountability. He should be offended and angered that his area is constantly being targeted.

I don't know what is being said behind closed doors, but if it is anything like the enabling comments from his mouth and also the staff's then it is clear we are not taking steps to correct it.

There comes a time and place where the simple "you don't know" isn't a valid or useful explanation.

Teams are targeting his areas. Whose "fault" it is does not even matter. It is there. It is happening. If we continue to shift blame that still isn't solving the problem.

There is a problem, whether it is Williams, or the communication between him and others. It needs to be worked on, not ignored or excused.

 

[Doomsday]

He read my mind, why put im back there in obvious passing situations? He would be fresher for the rest of the game if he came off the field on 3rd and long. Give Watkins some snaps on 3rd and long, use Roy in the box as a blitzer if you want him on the field.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

I said it in another thread...but Roy is mentally fragile...when Bill Parcells sidesteps questions about a player...then you know it's because Roy cannot handle criticism...this is not good...because he has also become physically soft...I am wondering if he is protecting an injury...like a chronic shoulder condition...because Roy seems very adverse to contact these days.

 

[lurkercowboy]

My memory is cloudy but my high school team had a defensive position called a Monster. The monster was a linebacker/safety hybrid that mostly played the run and rushed the passer. Maybe covered a fullback or tight end once in a while. Of course that was in a 5-2 base defense, but still I have always thought that Roy Williams should play something like that old monster position.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I said it in another thread...but Roy is mentally fragile...when Bill Parcells sidesteps questions about a player...then you know it's because Roy cannot handle criticism...this is not good...because he has also become physically soft...I am wondering if he is protecting an injury...like a chronic shoulder condition...because Roy seems very adverse to contact these days.

Put up or get off the field. This isn't about egos, it's about getting the job done. I like Roy, but if you are being exposed is a situation and you cannot correct the problem, then the coaching staff needs too by removing the weak link. If he can't handle being pulled on third down, then we are better off getting an average strong safety that can play the run and the pass rather than one that can play the run great, but is non-existant against the pass.

 

[Big Country]

I hope things turn around when T-New gets back to the field... Hopefully his injury isn't serious enough to hobble him all year.

Roy just now gets blown up way too much... I remember when he ate Chris Brown's hand a few years ago on a stiff-arm in pre-season and I thought good grief that's just not supposed to happen. Roy seemed to be fine in his rookie year and he was supposed to just get better and better, not worse. I would have to agree with removing Roy in nickel situations. Hell, we have able linebackers in case of a draw play. We've drafted plenty during the Parcell's era.

Newman getting back on the field isn't going to improve Roy's coverage any, but it surely wouldn't hurt the whole situation...

This is just the beginning however. 15 games to go.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Roy Williams shouldn't have received that contract...

 

[zekecee]

To be honest...That is exactly what I do when I am playing Madden. I have Roy in during my base 3-4 package, and that's it. Nickel, Dime, Quarter, its Watkins, Davis, and Hamlin.

Sorry Roy, If you are not part of the solution, you are a problem!

 

[Doomsday101]

Roy is taking heat right now and rightfully so but I have no doubts Roy will make some big plays for this defense as the season goes on.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I can't belive I'm saying this, because I think Roy stinks in coverage and is way overhyped in general based on his on-field accomplishments, but I do suspect that things will be different when Newman gets back on the field and they can do more Man/Less Zone. The gameplan they rolled out on Monday night was not what things will look like when Newman comes back. I would also guess that the gameplan they implemented Sunday night was not the sole focus of practice last week given Newman's "Day-to-Day" status and Wade's thoughts that he would probably play.

Hopefully our best CB comes back in the next few weeks and we can see what the Defense and Williams in particular is really supposed to look like in action.

 

[bbgun]

Um, why wouldn't opposing qbs target him on first or second down?

 

[Kilyin]

To be honest...That is exactly what I do when I am playing Madden. I have Roy in during my base 3-4 package, and that's it. Nickel, Dime, Quarter, its Watkins, Davis, and Hamlin.

Sorry Roy, If you are not part of the solution, you are a problem!

Why would you do that? Roy is still good in Madden, unless you're on the PC using modified rosters and have edited him accordingly. heh

 

[Idgit]

The solution is not to bench him.

The player we have in reserve is worse (Keith Davis). But the point with 3rd down is correct. It shouldn't be a problem if he is pulled for that duty. Until he shows he can make plays blitzing or in coverage, his role should be reduced if things do not change....

The blogger is saying to replace Roy with Hamlin and bring in Watkins at FS to improve coverage options. It's not a bad idea, depending on what the coaching staff thinks of Watkins' coverage this year. It looked like he figured out his problems with double moves late last season.

 

[InmanRoshi]

I thought we were already playing Roy at LB in dime packages, with Watkins and Hamlin as the deep safeties.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If we didn't know his name and number or where he was drafted and we just watched him play the game, it would be almost unanimous that he is not and will not ever be a great player and he really can't be described as anything more than an average player. I also agree that he seems to be mentally weak and looks to make excuses for his poor play.

It pains me to say that because going into that draft I wanted him worse than I've wanted any other player in the draft with the exception of Michael Irvin in 1988.

We all remember the talk..."The next Ronnie Lott". "Give me Roy Williams and I'll play with 10 men on defense." I even recall reading an article in USA Today the week of the draft where a scout was discussing how versatile he was and how he could do everything asked of an NFL safety. I was drooling over him and when Jerry traded down I was beside myself. But the facts are the facts.

 

[Alexander]

I thought we were already playing Roy at LB in dime packages, with Watkins and Hamlin as the deep safeties.

I believe that was the "plan", but who knows what happened to it. It did not appear to me that Williams was in a LB role an awful lot, but perhaps I was not paying attention.

What we probably need to do is address using him on 3rd downs with deep zone responsibilities. He's getting thrown over, so either he is taking shallow drops if he is at LB or is too deep as a safety. It is just obvious he is not keeping plays in front of him, which is supposed to be where he excels.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

If people actually watched and dissected the game, Roy hardly played bad. The first TD to Burress is somehow Roy's fault when they were clearly playing man-to-man and Roy was covering his guy on the opposite side of the field. Unless Roy has a machine akin to Scott Bakula on Quantum Leap, no safety makes that play nor should they. The TD that was thrown over Roy to Burress was largely due to a bad defensive playcall by not having Reeves play Burress tight. Burress could have adjusted his route to a corner or fade route and scored on Reeves, but it would've been harder to execute. Instead, Burress ran to the middle of the endzone, between the zone and Manning made a good throw to Burress who happens to be an abnormally 6'5" tall.

From what I've charted so far the problems on defense were mostly due to confusion. The silver lining to that is that it's something that can be corrected with time. The bad part about that is you can't afford to keep botching assignments on defense.



YAKUZA

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If people actually watched and dissected the game, Roy hardly played bad. The first TD to Burress is somehow Roy's fault when they were clearly playing man-to-man and Roy was covering his guy on the opposite side of the field. Unless Roy has a machine akin to Scott Bakula on Quantum Leap, no safety makes that play nor should they. The TD that was thrown over Roy to Burress was largely due to a bad defensive playcall by not having Reeves play Burress tight. Burress could have adjusted his route to a corner or fade route and scored on Reeves, but it would've been harder to execute. Instead, Burress ran to the middle of the endzone, between the zone and Manning made a good throw to Burress who happens to be an abnormally 6'5" tall.

From what I've charted so far the problems on defense were mostly due to confusion. The silver lining to that is that it's something that can be corrected with time. The bad part about that is you can't afford to keep botching assignments on defense.



YAKUZA

It's amazing. He is the only player I know who consistently makes bad plays yet it's always the fault of something the uneducated fan or reporter doesn't see or understand. I realize that can happen and does happen to players all the time, but with Roy it seems like it's always the case. I wish it were true because I really like him and want him to be a great player.

 

[Hiero]

the solution is to play him at lb on 3rd and long, play watkins and hamlin at safety. I would love to see this happen, especially with newman out.