Williams knows he needs to justify his big $$$ contract this year.
(Last in a series of reports on NFL players on the verge of crucial ‘make or break’ seasons in 2010.)
Over the past few seasons, Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin’s Super Bowl pick has always been his former team. The Playmaker (as Irvin was known throughout his playing days) picked Dallas to win it all not just out of loyalty. He felt the team had all the pieces in place. But this year, Michael Irvin isn’t picking the Cowboys because of a certain, unproductive piece: Roy Williams.
Bryant (R) has plans on putting Williams (C) in his rear view this season.
“I won’t take Dallas until Dallas has whatever it needs to stop playing 10 vs. 11. And with Roy Williams on the field, they’re playing 10 vs. 11,” Irvin said on NFL Network’s football preview special.
Roy Williams, 28, was traded to Dallas from Detroit in 2008 for first-, third- and sixth-round picks. It was quite clear then that the Cowboys were phasing troublesome WR Terrell Owens out of the equation and implementing Williams as the number one receiver.
But Williams’s two seasons in Dallas have been a major disappointment. Quite clearly, 57 catches and only 8 TD’s is not the kind of numbers one expects of a number one NFL receiver. And in Dallas where number ones are usually legendary, Williams’s lack of production is magnified even greatly.
Williams’s problems ranged from dropped passes to not being on the same wave length with QB Tony Romo in terms of his route running.
Enter 2010 and the emergence of Miles Austin followed by the presence of potential rookie sensation Dez Bryant. Austin, a fifth year receiver, has developed into Dallas’s top receiver and just recently was paid like it. He signed a six-year, $54 million contract extension. Williams has a similar deal in place.
Dez Bryant, the Cowboys top draft pick this year, is expected to make an immediate impact at receiver this year. So much so that Michael Irvin said he would favor the Cowboys again as legit Super Bowl contenders with Bryant in the starting line-up.
“Now if they put the young boy Dez Bryant in? You better believe I’ll take Dallas,” Irvin exclaimed.
So where does that leave Roy Williams? The answer is quite clear: In a make or break year.
Although Roy Williams has a similar deal to that of Miles Austin, (6-yr, $54 million in which he is in the deal’s third year) the handwriting is on the wall in terms of his tenure in Dallas and Williams says he was “lit up” by Irvin’s comments.
“That lit my fire,” Williams said today. “It just lit me up. … That got me going.”
And Williams better get going. It’s clear Miles Austin has one starting position on lock. Dez Bryant is clearly after the other.
“I’m going to do my job and let it happen,” Williams said. “I put in the work and the time. It’s going to happen. … I was on the top of the drops (passes) list (in 2009). I promise you that I won’t even be close to that.”
Only time will tell and now is the time! The sheer intensity of the competition at the receiver position should be enough motivation for Williams. For he knows if he doesn’t pick up his play, Dez Bryant will pick up his starting spot.
You don’t get more make or break than that.
(That was my players to watch this NFL season: Matt Leinart (recently traded), LaDainian Tomlinson, Ted Ginn Jr, Osi Umenyiora and Roy Williams. Now it’s time to step up. It’s time for some football!!)
SOURCE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS
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