Why Terrance Williams is the Dallas Cowboys’ weakest offensive link
This Dallas Cowboys receiver was a body catcher while in college. How can an NFL receiver be uncomfortable catching the football with his hands?
The simple truth – when it comes to renewing the contracts of their own free agents, fans of the Dallas Cowboys are often blinded by “The Star”. It becomes a case of treason to discuss positions of players on the depth chart. When diehard, “real” true blue fans are asked to compare two NFL players, the one on our roster is immeasurably better. I might get in trouble by stating that wide receiver Terrance Williams must go.
Some would state that I’ve been critical of Williams during his time with the Cowboys, but facts are facts, except when they are alternative facts. After he was drafted, I reviewed his play at Baylor University. It was immediately apparent that Williams was a body catcher. I have never understood how an NFL receiver can be uncomfortable catching the football with his hands.
Completing a reception by trapping the football against his chest is beautiful when it works. Many incompletions have come from the football springing off his shoulder pads. It reduces his valuable “catch radius” to the area between his nipples.
It is the primary reason that the team doesn’t throw him jump balls in red zone situations. Having to catch passes with his chest negates the 32 inch vertical jump that he recorded at the NFL combine. That’s just the beginning.
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A bigger crime is that Williams doesn’t fight defenders for the football. There are too many occasions where he simply quit on contested receptions. Williams began flopping like NBA superstar Lebron James. He baited many NFL officials to throw flags for pass interference. Above average receivers can fight through pass interference and complete the reception while getting the flag. Williams quits on the catch in hopes of getting a penalty.
Speaking of quitting – it became woefully obvious two years ago during the Cowboys 2015 season that Williams began quitting on his routes. To be fair, I noticed this once it became apparent that quarterbacks Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden were unable or unwilling to throw the football to the outside receivers.
It is possible he quit running routes at full speed because he knew he wasn’t the primary option? That wasn’t an option when Kellen Moore became the quarterback and started throwing cruise missiles.
With Tony Romo, the amazing, multiple pro-bowl winning, veteran quarterback with 34,183 passing yards running the offense, it didn’t take long for Williams to realize that the play really began when Romo does a spin move and the play breaks down. It’s only fitting that Romo trusted Williams to catch his awesome pump fake pass for Romo’s 248th career touchdown.
That catch was more remarkable after Romo’s first pass to Williams dropped to the field because Williams ran a lazy route and didn’t attempt to catch the football. It took a true leader to go back to Williams. Romo easily walked the Cowboys down the field and ended the drive with a touchdown to Williams. Of course, it looked super easy with the experience Romo has gained from 127 NFL starts.
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In the Cowboys’ offense, Williams is the weakest link. I don’t know if the front office will agree. I wasn’t happy to see receiver Dwayne Harris leave. That won’t be the case with Williams.
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