Terrance Williams needs to grow

[jrumann59]

Everybody forgets TWill came from a college that ran backyard football offense and he had a lot of adjusting just to learn a route tree. You coul dsee he was concentrating on routes more so than just playing. I expect him to be very good this year because the hard part is behind him, learning the route tree and the playbook.

 

[Doomsay]

I think that he'll be very good, but I worry about his body catching - that seems to be a hard habit to break.

 

[Nova]

I was mad at the coaching staff for trying to 'feature him' so much early on, but he eventually started showing flashes of brilliance. The guy has the potential to be a very nice receiver.

You and me both. I didn't like the baptism by fire, but mostly because of the situations in which they tried to force him the ball.

But it eventually started paying off.

 

[sbark]

I actually thought he was the guy Romo looked for when the pocket broke down. Kind of like Randall Cobb and Aaron rogers. There were a number of times they had big completions when Romo was scrambling.

agree......because in his college scheme with RGIII it was a scamble most of the time, he learned to react to RG3......and no route tree. He learned to come back to the QB, look for the holes in the def secondary.........he didn't learn a nfl route tree---but one could argue he still has just learned very basic route tree in JG scheme with no bunch sets, no pik plays, little motion.......Routes 101

 

[Nova]

Exactly.

And you can't forget some of his drop in production in the middle of the year was on the coaching staff. Miles got healthy enough to play and that took away a lot of TW's snaps.

But it's normal for rookies to have ups and downs. At least he had some ups, unlike some recent rookies. If we're talking about rookies who "need" to grow, how about Escobar?

Just because you brought it up, here are his percentage of snaps taken to all offensive snaps categorized by whether or not Austin was healthy. (For the record, I have Austin being injured from the SD game to the NO game, even though he was in the lineup in two of those).


Before Austin's injury:
Williams: in on 48.56% of offensive snaps

During Austin's injury:
Williams in on 83.29% of offensive snaps

After Austin's injury:
Williams in on 68.05% of offensive snaps


Funnily enough though, the first 8 games and the last 8 games saw the same percentage of snaps from TWill.

First 8 games:
Williams in on 68.52% of snaps

Last 8 games:
Williams in on 68.05% of snaps

But of course that is skewed because Austin was out in 5 of the first 8 games, and only out 2 of the last 8.

So yeah. Your assumption is correct. TWill was blocked by Austin in the 2nd half of the season. But thought it may be nice to show the data backing that.

 

[daveferr33]

Mo Claiborne needs to grow more than Williams. This defense can be much better if he turns into a playmaker at CB.

If only Mo would become the CB the FO believed they were getting and for whom they paid dearly...

"Deion was special with his burst," Jones said. "But certainly he [Claiborne] is the best they have graded for us since Deion. That would have included Deion after he came in here. Deion had the highest touchdown-per-touch of any player in NFL history."

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowb...-is-the-highest-rated-corner-since-prime-time

 

[Bullflop]

I'm betting TW will turn out to be even better at WR in the coming years. Added seasoning should bear that out. Aside from that, what this team REALLY needs at WR is one with great speed to spread the coverage thinner.

 

[jazzcat22]

What we seen from TWill is very encouraging. Normally most WR takes 3 years to really come into their own, before they "get it" so to speak. I mean the entire scheme, all the plays, all the routes.
Catching it the right way, with the hands, hands in correct position. A few years back I remember an announcer pointing out how Austin caught the ball with his hands backwards, or turned in the opposite direction. Not sure if that was ever corrected or not. Maybe that's why he has hamstring issues...j/k on that one.

But to see TWill play his rookie year, he's ahead of that 3 year curve.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

If only Mo would become the CB the FO believed they were getting and for whom they paid dearly...

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowb...-is-the-highest-rated-corner-since-prime-time

He was a huge gamble given the Cowboys gave up a 2nd for him. Eerily, he reminds me of Rod Hill, another rangy athletic CB with worlds of potential who the Cowboys drafted with a 1st round pick in the 80s.

Hill showed promise but he never developed. Dennis Thurman (safety and leader of Thurman's Thieves) once said Hill's biggest problem is that he saw no reason to improve himself. Thurman said he wished he had half of Hill's talents.

Claiborne has the athletic ability but he needs to work to improve himself or he will go the way of Rod Hill and all athletes who get by on talent alone.

 

[hra8700]

He can run vertical routes now...he'll need to learn how to run horizontal routes if he wants to take the next step. He should at least be a good #2.