Don't shun the Sooner

by no1cowboysfan on Oct 25, 2007 6:23 PM CDT Comment 20 comments

Lay off #31 for his coverage flaws, and try to remember the guy who made football fun again.

Before this year began, I made a prediction to my friends ... Roy Williams would have his best season this season, but he would also miss the Pro Bowl.

Why? Because the Pro Bowl is a joke. It's a popularity contest. That's why Newman and T.O. didn't make the cut last season.

For most of his career, Roy has been an icon. People loved Roy for his electrifying hits, his on-the-field drive/energy, and his generally nice persona with his off-the-field charitable work. In today's NFL, Roy has taken a new image. He's an overrated, sub-par strong safety who's a liability in coverage. Even Dallas fans are growing weary of the safety whom we all loved two years ago.

Well so far, after seven games, Roy has lived up to my prediction. He's on pace to reach the tackle numbers he put up in his first few years in the league (85 projected right now), and he's doing it in a defense with a lot more playmakers. He's on pace to reach (tie) his career high of INTs, for five (which he also reached last season). And he's done it all while keeping his blown coverages at a minimum.

Oh, sure, he's not perfect in coverage. He still has bonehead blown assignments and bad pursuit angles. But he still hasn't let too many of those mistakes go for scores. He's keeping the receivers in front of him, he's wrapping up his tackles (most of the time), he's making pass deflections, and he's giving very good run support. And he's doing it all amidst the constant berating from his own hometown media.

Call me a homer if you must, but I can't bring myself to harshly criticize Roy. As all of you know, being a Cowboys fan after the run in the 90's has been tough ... the team sucked, but everyone hated us anyway (and I don't live in Texas). Same with the early 2000's. Then, in 2002, Roy was drafted. We knew him. Many of us hated him (being a Sooner), but we were captivated by him. In the midst of a crappy, crappy team, we finally had something to root for on Sundays. "Sure, we're gonna get killed," I'd say, "but hey, I think Roy's gonna kill someone today." He made Cowboys football exciting again ...

Then Tuna came the next season, and the rest is history. But Roy, while maybe not the league's best safety, is still in the premier group. I get it ... he has coverage issues. But what strong safety doesn't? Show me a strong safety in this league who hasn't made a bonehead play in coverage this year, and I'll show you one who's ridden the pine all season. Every SS makes mistakes in coverage. That's not what strong safeties excel at. But NOT every strong safety is as energetic or as good in run support as Our Boy Roy.

I guess the thing that triggered this discourse for the Roy Lovin' was reading a post in the DMN blog about how Roy would likely be elected to the Pro Bowl on reputation this season, as he presumably is every season. And Cowboys fans chimed in, saying how they were hoping other Cowboys get in ahead of Roy, or maybe that Roy doesn't deserve the honor at all.

Well, I'll say this ... I'm voting for Roy to go to Honolulu this year. And I will next year, and the year after that. And the year he retires, I'm writing his name in the ballot and voting for him again.

Why? Because he's Roy.

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I agree, but...

Roy is a good player, but is not playing up to the level that he's getting paid for. That's probably on JJ as much as it is on RW, but the fact remains that he is VERY overpaid for the way he's played the last season and a half.

by ChrisRichey on Oct 25, 2007 6:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Whatever

Dude, I couldn't have said it better myself.

All those years, all we had was Darren Woodson. Then BAM like a brick house (literally) RW popped on to the scene and gave me a reason to love watching the cowboys again. I hated watching us lose but watching Roy Williams blast people left and right made me love to watch the games again. Win or lose he was out there busting heads (again literally) and making electrifying plays. Say what you want about his coverage, i've seen that man who people said was just 20 pounds shy of a linebacker, make some of the most athletic interceptions our team has seen in YEARS. Great article brother, you took the words straight from my mind. And for being overpaid, the only reason these guys get paid is because they work for our entertainment. There is no real reason to play football, no great product that is used on a daily basis from football, it's purely for fan entertainment. And as far as my entertainment dollar goes, He's is worth every penny

by markdamack on Oct 26, 2007 11:44 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Roy does get unfairly critized

From day one, when the Cowboys drafted him out of OU, Roy's game was never covering wr deep down field. After Woody retired, we never had a FS worth a s@#% who could cover so Roy had to try to cover up for their lack of cover skills.

He tried his best, but thats not the type of player he is. Roy is the absolute best inside the box DB in the league, by far. Steelers Palomalu and Indy's Sanders come the closest, but Roy is a better playmaker and harder hitter than those guys.

Its funny how everyone says he has absolutly no coverage skills, but somehow he always ends up leading our team in INTs every season.

Roy's a great player and its a shame so many Cowboys fans throw him under the bus when he's playing out of position, trying to cover up for some other players blown coverage.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 26, 2007 1:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm.....

From day one, when the Cowboys drafted him out of OU, Roy's game was never covering wr deep down field.

Or second rate TE's like Jeremy Stevens. Hamlin should be our SS.

As far as I'm concerned Skip Bayless was spot on about Aikman.

by Flamingblue on Oct 26, 2007 7:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

What??

I think your tag line tells us all we need to know about your football knowledge.

by APerfectStar on Oct 26, 2007 8:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

your signature is blasphamy

change it or Grizz should ban you from this blog.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 27, 2007 6:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm hoping ...

you mean the part about Skip Bayless, and not about Roy being the "Beast of Wrath."

... cause I like my sig.

Let him who hath understanding Reckon the number of the beast For it is a human number, it's number is 31.

by no1cowboysfan on Oct 28, 2007 3:47 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You say our

but New York is not our and neither is Skip Clueless. Sorry if Roy has hurt your poor defenseless receivers and runners (Not!). Take it back to Eli and wipe his nose with it.

by lee3022 on Oct 28, 2007 2:17 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Your post describes my thoughts well

I have not seen anyone note also the Ben Watson was knocked out of our NE game by...Roy.

The Pro Bowl is voted on by players and coaches. They do see what they have to do to scheme around Roy. He remains one of our very best playmakers and to me the very fact that they scheme to get him to cover deep testifies to the force he is in the box.

by lee3022 on Oct 28, 2007 2:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Roy has probably caused more injuries

through his hitting and horse collaring than he has made actual big plays all year.

Burt-D

by Burt D on Oct 28, 2007 1:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

if he's hurtin people, he's makin plays

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 28, 2007 2:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Horse collaring people while

they are out of bounds is not making plays. He plays dirty.

Burt-D

by Burt D on Oct 28, 2007 2:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

thats not how he's been hurting people

the play on Watson was legit, I should know, it happened right in front of me.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 28, 2007 2:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

BS

The man plays violently, not dirty! You can tell when Roy hits someone just from the force of the collision. You don't even need to see the jersey number.

by APerfectStar on Oct 28, 2007 6:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

dirty???

horse collaring wasn't declared illegal until just a few years ago, so you telling me guys who horse collared for the previous 80 years were dirty??

Thats total BS, Roy's old school and old school players take down players anyway they can.

Just because a technique has been declared illegal doesn't automatically make it dirty.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 28, 2007 7:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

actually yeah it does

They made it illegal for a reason.

Burt-D

by Burt D on Oct 28, 2007 7:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

no

horse collaring is illegal because it leads to a lot of injuries, like leading with the helmet. However, nobody would consider either of these tactics dirty if they weren't prohibited. Dirty is specifically doing something that you know is not allowed like breaking people's fingers in dogpiles and gouging people's eyes.

and the reason roy keeps doing it is 1)habit and 2)they dont' call it all the time. Yet another one of the rules (like holding) where you can get away with it, which is why it is so pervasive in the game. It's also complciated by the fact that grabbing somoene's jersey from behind isn't horse collaring, its that you specifically have to get in their shoulder pads.

by ab03 on Oct 28, 2007 8:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Isn't that what horse collaring is?

Dirty is specifically doing something that you know is not allowed like breaking people's fingers in dogpiles and gouging people's eyes.

It's also complciated by the fact that grabbing somoene's jersey from behind isn't horse collaring, its that you specifically have to get in their shoulder pads.

And yet I rarely see other players get this penalty. Which would lead me to believe he doesn't care enough to correct this problem, which would make him dirty.

Burt-D

by Burt D on Oct 28, 2007 8:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I've seen other players do it

its just not flaged.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Oct 28, 2007 10:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I see your point Burt D

but on this, I have to give Roy a break. This guy has been playing football his whole life and that tactic was always acceptable, until 2 years ago. Sure, he can tell himself "no more horse collars" but in the heat of the battle when he sees a huge guy coming at him and his instincts take over, it is much easier said than done to not do that which he has done his whole life. I would not call Roy a dirty player, just aggressive and sometimes careless. Think about some of the celebrated tough guys in the game - Lott, Bednarik etc. How much of their style would be considered dirty today?

by Billito on Oct 29, 2007 4:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs