Still fighting, even if it's a losing battle

I like the potential of Roy Williams. I don’t like the reality of Roy Williams as he has been. I think that’s as succintly as I can put it.

Maybe he and Tony finally get on the same page, though. I’m just going to reserve final judgement on his worth to this offense. One thing, though, if Bryant, Ogletree, or Crayton show better in practice, I think they should start over him in a merit-based manner. Open competition is my desire.

when it comes to Roy E. Williams. I’m hoping that it’s still a timing thing between him and Tony because when he was in Detroit I was all for trading for him because what I saw was a tremendous combination of size, speed, and hands. Some of the catches he made while in college and in his first few years in the league were incredible. My theory is because he seems to be such a primadonna that he just needs to get on the same page as Tony as early and as often as humanly possible and if that doesn’t work than I will be willing to call the trade an absolute bust!!!

He is just trying to make a Cowboys related point!!!

Is that Miles is inexperienced enough to still be developing as a player. He probably won’t change that much from what he is now to what he’ll be for the rest of his career, but he certainly is not done growing I’d say. Roy on the other hand, probably is. The guy hit his peak in a Mike Martz system. What has he honestly done outside of that system? Nothing. If you take away Roy’s SINGLE Pro Bowl season, which honestly was an average/above-average season for a great WR, he has done nothing. Roy is 28 and in his 7th season. He isn’t gonna change much from what he is now (and to be blunt, what he always has been aside from one year).

Keyshawn gained 1,000 yards in his 7th season and never did again after that. But this is a guy who has four 1,000+ yard seasons and also had a 100+ catch season in the first half of his career. Roy has nothing close to any of that in the first half of his career.

He doesn’t have, and probably will never have, the credentials that Key has. Which brings up a BIG part of professional sports, and that is work ethic. Like I said, he has all the physical tools in the world, but since he is such a primadonna he probably will never live up to expectations. Just like I had debated earlier with B-Ball fans, what separates Kobe and LeBron is work ethic. Kobe has the iron will that cant be broken whereas Lebron assumes that he is the “chosen” one and that he can do no wrong. To be a champion you need an equal balance of talent and work ethic. Peyton Manning certainly isn’t the best athlete you’re gonna find but his work ethic is probably unmatched.

Miles had, and has a fire in him. He wants to be successful and you can see that on the field. His game does the talking, so he doesn’t have to answer the same media and fan questions that Roy does because of it.

Roy thinks he’s a badass already and doesn’t appear to have any desire to improve his game, because according to him, he’s just super awesome as it is (roll eyes). At least that’s what I take away from his uninspired play and interviews.. That to me is why Roy will never be a dangerous #1 in this league, not with his current approach.

I’m sure everyone has seen the clips of Henderson getting slapped across the face by a trainer (or just a brave little white guy) before running out on to the field. I think Roy would benefit by adopting a similar method. Something that would wake him up, because often times he appears to be on auto pilot.

I heard some analyst describing Roy this way (paraphrasing), “he needs to get involved early in games or else he losses focus. He doesn’t yell or whine about not being thrown to, but he just appears to lose interest in the game.”
Well, I have to agree. Just from watching his body language on the field, and more important, mistakes he makes running/adjusting routes and of course the drops, the guy just needs to maintain his focus for an entire game. The tools are there, but can he use them?

Because he’ll be expected to make a significant contribution this season, at least starting out as a starter, I’ll continue to hope he can prove Jerry right and redeem himself. He’s shown flashes of what he could be, but he’s just been so inconsistent that I have little confidence in this actually happening. I don’t know if Roy has it in him to change his game at this point in his career, and after a year and a half it’s kind of ridiculous to think that he’s still “not on the same page” with his QB and somehow more time will fix that. But the flashes he does show (and the fact that we’re stuck with him anyway) keep me thinking that if he could just be more consistent he might still be a solid contributor to the offense.

Personality wise, while Roy’s not nearly as engaging, likable or well-spoken as Austin (he has a rare combination of all the great attributes of a receiver with none of the prima donna stereotypes of one), Roy’s personality and what he says in the media don’t bother me, he just is who he is, comes across as kind of weird, but basically wants to do well and works hard trying to. I think the reaction to his “I’m going to look at this thing as I’m the man, like I’ve always been” statement was overblown, if you listen to the whole context of his statement he’s saying the right things, and really that’s the attitude a receiver needs to have.

I can no longer have much confidence that Roy will be anywhere near what we originally hoped, but I continue to hope that he might.

The fan personal dislike of Roy is just part of being an NFL player. He is a much higher priced Corey Procter. Neither are very good. Fans make it personal without knowing much about them as people. They just know they basically suck and since they know next to nothing about them as people, the emotion is anger and dislike. It happens to me too sometimes. In Roy’s case, there are 10 million additional reasons for the personal dislike. It’s called resentment. Most people wouldn’t make that much in 5 lifetimes and Roy makes it in 1 year for sucking.

where did this impression of Miles Austin having bad hands come from? He was known for having good hands in college- I remember he had a case of the drops early in his career, but everyone on the coaching staff still raved about his hands in practice, that it just wasn’t transferring to the games.

I’ve seen this in countless threads recently, how Miles overcame bad hands but that just isn’t the case- he got over his NFL nervousness and his talents showed.

There’s nothing you can do to improve bad hands. If you have them, you have them. I seriously doubt it that TO just failed to work on catching. He was as dedicated a workout/practice guy there is. You either have hands or you don’t

I for one was in favor of the Roy Williams trade. Like may of us I thought that if he just came to a winning organization then he would live up to his draft expectations. I’d admit we have not gotten our monies worth (and by monies I mean draft picks 1,3,6) from this trade.

But just like any good engineer when there are problems you start looking for solutions to fix them. It’s simple just think of what you would like to happen and eliminate the bad behavior that lead to the problem. Here is what I would change right away.

1. Put on 15 to 20 lbs this guys is way to light, he gets pushed around by the smallest of corners. How many times did we have to put Scandrick in time out because he keep picking on Roy last year during camp? Roy looks like a gangly basketball center running routes legs, knees and ankles all out of coordination. Imagine him as a Vincent Jackson clone weighing about 235 plowing down little corners on his way to the endzone.

2. Stop calling speed routes for the guy he is not fast, or at least he does not appear as if he is to me or more importantly to Tony. He may actually be fast, but it takes him a long time to get there (no wait his fast). No wait…. I’m confused. ‘Roy just run a slant’.

3. Roy listen to the advice Mike gave you ‘know the snap count’ you are always two steps slow of the line because you don’t know the snap count. Good this was a simple fix.

4. If you want us to believe you’re a no 1 receiver then stop putting up a number 2 every time you score. Mike knew he was a no 1 so much he would do it with both hands.

If Roy follows this quick easy 4 step process to recovery then we (that includes you Roy) may yet have ourselves a shot at seeing some of the best WR (Miles, Roy, Dez, Tree) play of all time for many years to come.

Much more likely he sees the writing on the wall and tunes out mentally even more. He’s had his paydays and will go quietly, he won’t even put up a fight, because he has no fire, no will, and doesn’t care.
How do I know this? He was on a contending team, he’s had a year and a half, he’s an experienced pro, yet he can’t “get on the same page” as Romo, a top-ten QB.

Read that as “can’t figure out the playbook and run a route to save his life.”

If it was going to happen it would have happened already.
I’m no big fan of the Dez B pick, put if the kid can play at all RoyW is riding the bench, traded (get what you can Jerry) if possible, or even cut.

but if he is working harder, and smarter, like he says he is I will definently support the guy. His physical tools raise his potential beyond PC, but to this point I have seen little from him. I have recently seen that he is getting his legs stronger and working on crouching as he runs, plus catching a couple hunred balls a week from Romo.
I will gladly admit I was wrong if he steps up. A little crow is good for the ol’ colon.

The word you are looking for is T-O-U-G-H

http://sturminator.blogspot.com/2010/05/2009-final-receiving-totals.html

Not pretty for Roy, especially 3rd downs (9 of 27, ugh)

…that they should NEVER be handed out to a player that doesn’t have a multi-year track record of performing at an elite level.

Roy never had that.

If he’s really no good, then trade him, cut him or throw him in the river. I don’t care as long as he isn’t taking up a roster spot of a player that could be helping make this team better.

If our O-line can give Romo consistent pass protection and if our skill position players on offense don’t suffer any serious injuries…

Then, play Austin/Williams/Bryant together and see what happens. If #11 has another suckwad, subpar season, it’s “arrivaderci baby!”