Romo to Williams still a work in progress

[gimmesix]

I was happy to see Dallas make the Eagles pay in the first half for choosing to use a lot of single coverage on Roy Williams. His performance helps keep defenses honest in their coverages and also gives us hope for his continued development in this offense.

His three misconnections with Romo also tell us the two of them still have a lot of work to do to get to the point where they always know what to expect from each other.

On one pass, I think it was the first missed connection between them, Williams put a double-move on the defender, slanting toward the middle of the field, then breaking back more to the sideline (or corner of the end zone) when he saw a defender coming to help over to the middle. Romo bought into Williams' first move and delivered a high strike over the middle that only Williams could have caught. It was clear Romo was not expecting the second move by Williams.

On an attempted touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone, Romo threw to the pylon expecting Williams to continue his route (on which he had the defender beat). Williams apparently was expecting a fade pass and had slowed to leap for the pass. He was visibly frustrated with the pass.

Then, of course, there was the hot route where Williams clearly wasn't expecting a ball delivered with the velocity Romo put on it. He turned too slowly and was barely able to even get his hands up.

I hope Romo and Williams spend time this off-season studying game film of their misconnections so that they can get their reads together and better know what to expect of each other. Based on the fact that these misconnections appear to be the root of the problem, I think there is clearly an upside to the Romo to Williams connection. (I think the drops are a product of this problem.)

 

[anygivensun]

I don't know. Roy and Tony have now had 1 1/2 seasons to get it right. What does it mean that they aren't there yet? Is Roy a slacker who doesn't study the playbook? Is he doing some little things that send Tony the wrong message when he's running?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Roy just has some bad habits

that near INT came from him not recognizing the situation

Romo was being pressured and he was running an inside route

he should have cut it short to become the hot receiver

or at least looked back to Romo sooner

 

[panchucko]

Hey man it will probably take years to get rid of the bad habits Roy picked up in Detroit. If Kitna ever had to enter the game, they would probably gel right away.

 

[gimmesix]

I don't know. Roy and Tony have now had 1 1/2 seasons to get it right. What does it mean that they aren't there yet? Is Roy a slacker who doesn't study the playbook? Is he doing some little things that send Tony the wrong message when he's running?

Discount the half-season. Williams and Romo were both hurt, and there was no real time to work on their connection.

This off-season, they worked on it, but apparently they couldn't simulate their reactions in games. Dallas' scheme doesn't just have receivers run to a set spot (like some timing-based schemes), but they have some flexibility to read the defenders and adjust.

Aside from a few glitches, Romo and Austin, Romo and Witten, Romo and Crayton have had lots of time to get in sync with each other. Romo usually knows when these players are going to zig instead of zag.

He and Williams are slowly coming together on that, and it really shows at times.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Hey man it will probably take years to get rid of the bad habits Roy picked up in Detroit. If Kitna ever had to enter the game, they would probably gel right away.

Shush your mouth.

 

[gimmesix]

Roy just has some bad habits

that near INT came from him not recognizing the situation

Romo was being pressured and he was running an inside route

he should have cut it short to become the hot receiver

or at least looked back to Romo sooner

I don't know if he didn't recognize the situation or just wasn't expecting the high, hard one. He turned in time to catch a softer toss, and might have been expecting that since no defender was near enough to warrant a fireball.

Again, I just think it's an example of him not really being completely in sync with Romo yet.

 

[DaBoys4Life]

One Full season one full of season one half of season. It's not a work in progress Williams just sucks.

 

[gimmesix]

Hey man it will probably take years to get rid of the bad habits Roy picked up in Detroit. If Kitna ever had to enter the game, they would probably gel right away.

I don't know if we can call the routes he ran "bad habits." On the first two, he clearly had an idea of what he needed to do to make a play, but his idea and Romo's weren't the same.

Is cutting away from the double-team a bad habit? Is preparing to use his 6-4 frame to sky for a fade pass a bad habit?

They just weren't what Romo expected, so both players need to figure out what to expect from each other.

 

[gimmesix]

One Full season one full of season one half of season. It's not a work in progress Williams just sucks.

Has there not been progress from when he first came here to where the two of them are now? That makes it a work in progress.

I'm not saying Williams is a work in progress. He is what he is as a receiver abilitywise. But the communication between him and Romo is a work in progress.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

It's coming... trust me! They'll be clicking when this team really needs it.

 

[gimmesix]

It's coming... trust me! They'll be clicking when this team really needs it.

I don't think they can really completely fix it this season. It will take some study and effort.

But there has been enough improvement (sans Williams' drops) that it's a viable threat. We need that almost as much as them totally meshing. If teams feel they can handle Williams one-on-one, then it makes it that much tougher for Austin and Witten to ever draw single coverage.

Dallas showed with the Eagles game that if teams try to consistently go one-on-one with Williams (which Philly did in the first half) that we're not afraid to attack and exploit that matchup. Other teams have mixed their coverages, but the Eagles tried early on to stick with single coverage on Williams and give help elsewhere.

 

[MapleLeaf]

I don't know if he didn't recognize the situation or just wasn't expecting the high, hard one. He turned in time to catch a softer toss, and might have been expecting that since no defender was near enough to warrant a fireball.

Again, I just think it's an example of him not really being completely in sync with Romo yet.

...but we have to be honest here.

He missed being ready for the hot route. He's suppose to be a professional football player in the NFL. That read is suppose to be easy to see and he had the inside assignment.

When the blitz is on you say to yourself "I'm the hot!" and you look for the ball right now.

If he wants to have excellent games where he is pro bowl calibre he's going to have to recognize and catch those balls.

He played well enough this past game to be recognized for a good game. If he wants to be viewed as a great receiver then he has to fine tune those little details.

BTW, that had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with Romo. He did his job and got rid of the ball. Roy just had to do his part.

 

[sbark]

...but we have to be honest here.

He missed being ready for the hot route. He's suppose to be a professional football player in the NFL. That read is suppose to be easy to see and he had the inside assignment.

When the blitz is on you say to yourself "I'm the hot!" and you look for the ball right now.

If he wants to have excellent games where he is pro bowl calibre he's going to have to recognize and catch those balls.

He played well enough this past game to be recognized for a good game. If he wants to be viewed as a great receiver then he has to fine tune those little details.

BTW, that had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with Romo. He did his job and got rid of the ball. Roy just had to do his part.

Agree........I remember M.Irvin showing reporters his hands with the webbing inbetween the fingers splitting.......from he said the Velocity of Aikman passes to him....ie slant routes etc.....

its the NFL.....Whats the maximum effective range of an excuse?
Zero meters......

 

[T-RO]

gimmesix I like your breakdown. Thanks, bro!

I have been frustrated with Roy and I really the notion of Tree getting some more reps. That said, Roy is one of our boys, and I appreciate some of his recent comments and his attitude. He has some unique and compelling gifts. I think he's going to contribute to our championship caliber team for a number of years. Let's hope he can continue to grow and work.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Agree........I remember M.Irvin showing reporters his hands with the webbing inbetween the fingers splitting.......from he said the Velocity of Aikman passes to him....ie slant routes etc.....

its the NFL.....Whats the maximum effective range of an excuse?
Zero meters......

...he used to point at Aikman and vice versa when they read the blitz.

He made a reputation over the hot route slant.

 

[gimmesix]

...but we have to be honest here.

He missed being ready for the hot route. He's suppose to be a professional football player in the NFL. That read is suppose to be easy to see and he had the inside assignment.

When the blitz is on you say to yourself "I'm the hot!" and you look for the ball right now.

If he wants to have excellent games where he is pro bowl calibre he's going to have to recognize and catch those balls.

He played well enough this past game to be recognized for a good game. If he wants to be viewed as a great receiver then he has to fine tune those little details.

BTW, that had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with Romo. He did his job and got rid of the ball. Roy just had to do his part.

I 100 percent agree with the part in bold. I don't know why Williams wasn't ready, but he wasn't. Maybe next time, based on that, he will be.

I think a lot will come together once he and Romo become more familiar with each other. Not sure Williams has the makeup to ever become a great receiver, but I think if he can get comfortable, and Romo can get comfortable with him, we'll see a smoother connection and a lot less drops.

 

[Big Dakota]

Romo to Williams still a work in progress


Who's working on it, Gutzon Borglum?

 

[gimmesix]

...he used to point at Aikman and vice versa when they read the blitz.

He made a reputation over the hot route slant.

Romo and Austin have similarly shown that kind of rapport on some plays, where a nod is all they need. Hopefully, Williams will get there with Romo.

 

[Zman5]

I'm not a big RW fan and he has dropped some easy ones but I have to admit that, for some reason, Romo seems to always throw the ball high to RW. At least more so to RW then the other WRs.