MacMahon: Terrance Williams' near big play was busted route

[Cotton]

Terrance Williams' near big play was busted route
August, 18, 2013

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Cowboys could easily have ended their first series with a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Tony Romo overthrew a wide-open Terrance Williams on a deep ball down the left sideline. It turned out that the third-round receiver made a rookie mistake on the route, too.

“It’s an adjustment route,” Romo said. “He’s got to see a little bit differently on the thing, and then obviously if he runs that route, I’ve got to adjust to that. It’s part of learning. It’s his first game. We’ll have that down next time. I thought he did good tonight, though. He did a lot of good things.”

Romo declined to discuss the route adjustment in detail, but owner/general manager Jerry Jones said Williams was supposed to run a crossing route based on the coverage.

Williams, a Baylor product who missed the first two games due to a concussion, caught only one pass for five yards in his preseason debut. However, the Cowboys are pleased with the development of a rookie they’re counting on to be their third receiver.

“In general, I really think he’s stepped up,” Jones said. “I think that’s the best way to say it. He has stepped up as our third pick, a rookie. All in all, he’s had a good training camp. He’s going to help us.”

While Williams ran the wrong route on the deep ball, he showed his ability to get behind the defense.

“Tony missed a throw,” said head coach Jason Garrett, who didn't mention Williams' mistake. “Tony makes a lot of throws. We sees he’s an obviously very accurate quarterback. It looked like Terrance beat him off the line of scrimmage and we missed it. That’s an opportunity that we look back on as coaches and it’s a missed opportunity.”

 

[junk]

This is the Cowboys in a nutshell. Guy is wide open for an easy TD on a throw any NFL QB should make.

Romo - wrong route adjustment
Jerry - wrong route based on coverage (how the hell does he know anyway)
Garrett - Romo missed it, good play by the WR

Uh, no wonder these guys struggle to be consistent year in and year out. What's the message? What is Williams supposed to take away from this? His owner and QB tell him he ran the wrong route. The coach said he did a good job getting off the LOS.

 

[Texas Ace]

This is the Cowboys in a nutshell. Guy is wide open for an easy TD on a throw any NFL QB should make.

Romo - wrong route adjustment
Jerry - wrong route based on coverage (how the hell does he know anyway)
Garrett - Romo missed it, good play by the WR

Uh, no wonder these guys struggle to be consistent year in and year out. What's the message? What is Williams supposed to take away from this? His owner and QB tell him he ran the wrong route. The coach said he did a good job getting off the LOS.

No shit.

I have no idea if he ran the wrong route, but what I do know is that Tony Romo completely missed that throw just like he missed the one to Miles Austin in similar fashion in the Giants game in 2011.

The guy is wide open and Romo overthrew it, period.

It's not like Romo threw it to a different spot on the field or something, so to use the wrong route excuse is lame and it's another example of why he doesn't command the type of a respect a pro bowl QB should.

Take the blame, then tell the kid in the locker room that he messed up, not through the media.

 

[Clay_Allison]

No shit.

I have no idea if he ran the wrong route, but what I do know is that Tony Romo completely missed that throw just like he missed the one to Miles Austin in similar fashion in the Giants game in 2011.

The guy is wide open and Romo overthrew it, period.

It's not like Romo threw it to a different spot on the field or something, so to use the wrong route excuse is lame and it's another example of why he doesn't command the type of a respect a pro bowl QB should.

Take the blame, then tell the kid in the locker room that he messed up, not through the media.

Could be both a poor throw and the fact that Romo had to figure out where the hell Williams was, assuming he ran the wrong route. If you take an extra second scanning the field for a WR who isn't where he's supposed to be, you may have to rush the throw.

 

[bbgun]

A simple incompletion merited a standalone article? Good Lord do we suck.

 

[Cotton]

Could be both a poor throw and the fact that Romo had to figure out where the hell Williams was, assuming he ran the wrong route. If you take an extra second scanning the field for a WR who isn't where he's supposed to be, you may have to rush the throw.

What's even worse is Dez was wide open on the other side of the field as well.

 

[Clay_Allison]

What's even worse is Dez was wide open on the other side of the field as well.

Romo's not the kind of QB that stands super tall in the pocket and can just cannon the ball in any direction, like a Bledsoe (I guess Flacco is the big arm guy of this generation). Once he's decided to go one way, he's not going to do a great job trying to turn and throw across his body.

 

[1bigfan13]

Romo declined to discuss the route adjustment in detail, but owner/general manager Jerry Jones said Williams was supposed to run a crossing route based on the coverage.

I'm guessing one of the coaches on offense gave him this nugget of information so that he could use it in the media in order to appear football smart.

 

[p1_]

What's even worse is Dez was wide open on the other side of the field as well.

I couldn't believe both were wide assed open like that. Romo has his choice and misses...

 

[Plan9Misfit]

A simple incompletion merited a standalone article? Good Lord do we suck.

A PRESEASON incompletion, no less.

 

[Cotton]

 

[1bigfan13]

But...but....but....Jerry said he was supposed to run a crossing route.

 

[VA Cowboy]

Good Lord do we suck.

yes

 

[Texas Ace]

You don't have to be a football genius to know that Romo's excuse was bullshit. And Jerry Jones is simply coddling his boy as always.

That whole adjustment thing is nonsense. Watch the play again.....he doesn't have to stop and gather himself, it was practically a bang-bang play and Romo knows exactly what Williams is trying to do once he nicely sheds the CB.

He just flat out overthrew him.

 

[bbgun]

whatever

 

[Cotton]

Yep, he just overthrew him. No question.

 

[Cotton]

Rookie Terrance Williams acknowledges he ran wrong route, needs to get on same page with Tony Romo

Cowboys rookie receiver Terrance Williams acknowledged he ran the wrong route on the over thrown ball from quarterback Tony Romo in the first quarter against the Cardinals.

It was a communication breakdown between Williams and Romo as the two are still trying to develop some chemistry.

"It’s something I can come back and watch the film and continue to develop and being on the same page with him," Williams said. "It was just something that he pointed the safety out. I was too focused on the play that he called instead of doing the check down. But it’s something I just have to continue to keep learning how he calls things and just my eyes more and have common sense."

That being said, the Cowboys are not unhappy with the route Williams ran. He beat his man off the ball and was wide open. It's a play that coach Jason Garrett said should have still resulted in a completion and a touchdown if Romo didn't over throw the ball.

Overall, Garrett said the Cowboys were pleased with Williams' performance, his first of the preseason after missing the first two games with a concussion.

“Yeah, he did (play well)," Garrett said. "He played close to 25 snaps and did some good things. He won on a release early on in the game on a third down that was really a missed opportunity for us. He looked comfortable to me. I thought he did some things with his releases and the routes down the field that were very positive. Didn’t seem like he was in awe of the situation at all. He looked big. He looked fast. He looked like he had fresh legs, so it was good to see him in some extended action. He’s got to tighten things up at the top of routes like a lot of young receivers do, but he seemed comfortable out there to me.”

But still Williams knows he needs to learn to run the right route if he hopes to gain the trust of his quarterback.

"It’s just the premise of it, being in the spot," Williams said. "If he points something out, then I have to continue to be there, to trust with him, because later on, if I do something like that and then if he throws the ball in the wrong spot then they’re going to be looking at me, like, what am I doing? I just have to use my eyes more."

Clarence Hill

______________________

I am thinking now that he did run the wrong route and Romo adjusted after the pump fake and just overthrew him.

 

[Texas Ace]

whatever

Look at that.

How could anyone argue that this is anything other than a missed throw?

Romo sets his feet, looks left the whole way, then releases when Williams is headed up field. There's no hesitation or any interruption of a throwing motion at all.

The worst part about this isn't the missed opportunity, it's Romo putting the blame on the rook while in front of a mic. It's little things like that which contribute to him not having total respect and command of his huddle like a Brady or Manning does.

 

[bbgun]

It's never Tony's fault.

 

[Texas Ace]

I am thinking now that he did run the wrong route and Romo adjusted after the pump fake and just overthrew him.

I don't see a pump fake, but just for the sake of argument, as I said in my original post, why not just take the blame then correct the rook in practice or film study?