Roy won't get ripped this season

[Bungarian]

Roy won't get ripped this season

Spare me the sanctimonious bull about forgiving the media.

Roy Williams deserved to get ripped after being exposed repeatedly during the Cowboys' late-season collapse. He deserved to get ripped for avoiding the media and leaving his teammates to answer questions about him getting toasted. He deserved to get ripped when he showed up to minicamp weighing a gut-bustin' 247 pounds. And he deserved to get ripped for ending his silence by explaining that anybody who thinks he got burned doesn't understand coverage schemes.

Williams won't get ripped this season. His sudden sense of cooperation with the media won't hurt. But the reason Roy won't get ripped is because he's gonna have a really, really good season.

"I'm excited for him, just hearing what they're doing with him, getting him in the mix, getting him involved," John Lynch said in Todd Archer's story about the two teeth-rattling safeties. "He's an impact player. He's a guy who makes plays. He can do a lot of different things, but his skills are best suited for how they're going to use him.

"Good for him, bad for everybody else."

Wade Phillips will make Williams better by putting him in position to use his playmaking talent and keeping him out of situations that aren't his strength. Taking him out of the safety spot in the dime package, for example, is a simple but genius move.

Williams' weight -- 221 (lowest since rookie year) when he reported in San Antonio -- will be just as key to his success this season. He can run again.

He'll still give up some intermediate stuff, especially if he faces Hall of Famers like Marvin Harrison. But Williams hasn't been burned deep more than once or twice since the start of training camp. I've seen him keep up with Jason Witten on enough seam routes to know he's not the coverage liability he's been in the past.

For the first time in a while, he'll earn his way to Hawaii on performance instead of reputation.

 

[followthestar]

HELLO!!!!!!!!! Wake up, dude!!! :bang2: Roy Williams had a bad year for him, but was still easily one of the best SS in the NFL, and everyone who plays the game knows it. In Wade Phillips' scheme, Roy Williams will be a holy terror and a lock to make the Pro Bowl AGAIN - book it!!!

 

[Future]

Roy Williams will continued to get ripped by the media, bloggers, casual fans, zoners, and Madden champions alike until he proves that he can cover. He is yet to do that.

 

[superpunk]

Roy will continue to get ripped until the retards doing the ripping realize that all safeties get beat deep a fairly decent amount of time - and that the great ones consistently make plays to compensate for them. He'll get ripped until the mouth-breathers realize that he covers well, although not spectacular - and certainly doesn't get beat any more than the safeties people fawn over, like Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu.

But until the special ed. section of the football viewing community stops viewing Roy in a vacuum, and starts really looking into a comparative analysis in relation to other top safeties in the league, Roy will continue to get ripped for every misstep. And he will have quite a few this year, no doubt about it.

 

[Doomsday101]

Man the 70's team was lucky not to have the internet around back then or all these TV football gurus. Do people think guys like Cliff Harris or Charlie Waters were never beaten on plays? That they never gave up TD's? When you look at the overall player in Roy Williams the good and the bad I come to the conclusion that he brings more positives than negatives to this team.

 

[Future]

Man the 70's team was lucky not to have the internet around back then or all these TV football gurus. Do people think guys like Cliff Harris or Charlie Waters were never beaten on plays? That they never gave up TD's? When you look at the overall player in Roy Williams the good and the bad I come to the conclusion that he brings more positives than negatives to this team.

Normally, I would agree with you, but Roy was pretty bad at times last year. Poor angles, always trying to make the big play, he needs to have a big year this year.

 

[Doomsday101]

Normally, I would agree with you, but Roy was pretty bad at times last year. Poor angles, always trying to make the big play, he needs to have a big year this year.

I agree at times he played poor and I'm sure that he will get burned again at some point as did guys like Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters who most Cowboy fans consider to be all time greats. While I agree Roy gave up some plays Roy also made many big plays for us last season.

 

[Rampage]

i love that quote by lynch "good for him, bad for everybody else"

 

[ZeroClub]

If the other members of the defensive secondary perform well and the 3-4 scheme gets pressure, Roy will have a fine year.

But if he's forced back into doing what he doesn't do best, he'll look bad, as he did at times last year.

 

[Doomsday101]

If the other members of the defensive secondary perform well and the 3-4 scheme gets pressure, Roy will have a fine year.

But if he's forced back into doing what he doesn't do best, he'll look bad, as he did at times last year.

I agree. Roy is hell on wheels when he is allowed to play up close and can aggressively attack. He is not a 2 deep zone guy that does not mean he can't do better than he did at times last year but he is at his best when allowed to roam around the line of scrimmage.

 

[dbair1967]

Roy Williams will continued to get ripped by the media, bloggers, casual fans, zoners, and Madden champions alike until he proves that he can cover. He is yet to do that.

and its just stupid to say such a thing, he has covered and covered well at times...no SS in this league will have much success if they constantly end up in space against other teams WR's...Darren Woodson was the exception, not the rule

David

 

[dbair1967]

Normally, I would agree with you, but Roy was pretty bad at times last year. Poor angles, always trying to make the big play, he needs to have a big year this year.

yeah, well so was our pass rush

and the pass rush has been far worse than his coverage skills for years

David

 

[CrazyCowboy]

I sure hope that Roy is the NFL defensive POY for 07/08.

 

[Wood]

Roy Williams is by far the most over-rated Cowboy player ever and I am as die-harded as they come. They can write a story a day about how improved he is ...blah...blah. But until I see him perform like he is getting paid....he is dead to me.

 

[BlackJackMurphy]

I would dump him in a second - his performance v.s Seattle was an embarrassment to Scott Case , let alone the Dallas Cowboys

 

[LaTunaNostra]

Roy Williams is by far the most over-rated Cowboy player ever and I am as die-harded as they come. They can write a story a day about how improved he is ...blah...blah. But until I see him perform like he is getting paid....he is dead to me.

Wow, those are fighting words.

any takers?

 

[Future]

yeah, well so was our pass rush

and the pass rush has been far worse than his coverage skills for years

David

What does a pass rush have to do with poor angles and missed tackles. The guy's game struggles other than just in coverage.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Wow, those are fighting words.

any takers?

It's a played out story that, unless you like going in circles, isn't worth the headache.

Ranks right up there w/the Julius/Marion threads.

Cuz I fail to see how a guy can be tops in almost every conceivable category for a strong safety that fans deem him to be overhyped, overrated, and is consumed by so much suckage he isn't worth the jersey he's wearing.

Sometimes, I think we're so keyed in on the 'boys that maybe we just don't see how many other safeties get toasted in this league on a regular basis.

 

[WoodysGirl]

On a side note, McMahon came up with this blog entry defending his position on Roy:

Williams' late-season coverage woes
Some folks on this here blog called me out for accusing Roy Williams of being a frequent burn victim during last season's late collapse without pointing to specific plays. Fair enough, even though the point of the post is that he's primed for an All-Pro season.

I don't have access to coaches' video, nor do I have Cowboys games stored on the TiVo. So I had to rely on the limited highlights on the official team site and the recent NFL Network replay of the playoff loss.

This post is going to get pretty long even though I'm just focusing on the final four losses, so you'll have to follow the jump.

The blame falls on Williams' for two Saints' TD passes. Williams let Jamal Jones catch the ball in front of him and missed the tackle at the 5 on a 27-yard TD. Williams was was in the flat on Reggie Bush's 61-yard catch-and-run on a screen pass, failing to get off the O-lineman's block until they were way downfield and then whiffing on a tackle attempt. I'd like to see the coaches' tape on Devery Henderson's 50-yard catch that set up a TD. My predecessor on this here blog reported that Williams got sucked up by a play-fake, putting Anthony Henry on an island.

Williams was one-on-one against Jerramy Stevens on his 15-yard TD catch in the playoff game.

Don't believe Williams was to blame for any of Jon Kitna's four touchdown passes, but it's safe to say the strong safety didn't have a great game, considering Kitna completed 28 of 42 passes for 306 yards.

There were also two late-season TDs by tight ends on seam routes -- a 25-yarder by Philly's Matt Schobel and a 37-yarder by Stevens. Both passes were completed between Bradie James and Williams, so I asked James about the coverage responsibilities.

James said he'd take the blame, but he expected help from the safety playing Cover 2 in those situations.

"That's why you have a safety position," James said. "That's the last line of defense."

I'll split the blame into thirds on those plays: a share for James, a share for Williams and a share to Bill Parcells for letting James and Williams get exploited. Tight ends scored seven TDs against the Cowboys last season, including the playoff loss.

"Teams knew. They schemed us that way," James said. "They knew if they got us in certain situations, I would have to run even though I was three and a half yards from the line of scrimmage."

In an effort to end this post on a positive note, let me make a few points that should encourage Cowboys fans: 1) James thinks his communication with Williams will be much better; 2) James and Williams are a combined 25-30 pounds lighter than they were last season and moving much better; 3) Wade Phillips' scheme won't put them in the position of covering TEs on seam routes nearly as much as they did under Parcells.

Posted by Tim MacMahon at 1:27 PM (E-mail this entry)

 

[dbair1967]

What does a pass rush have to do with poor angles and missed tackles. The guy's game struggles other than just in coverage.

yeah, he struggles in all sorts of areas...thats why he makes pro bowls and is always at or near the top in safety ratings, even when done by league personnel people

David