Ode to Troy
I had a comment from my cousin Connie that I'd like to answer first: Yes, of course it is okay that you copy my stuff and send it to your mom (thank you for asking!). Sometimes it is easier to do that than to persuade someone to visit a web site.
[Editor's note: once again, the following discussion is about football, which some readers will find as entertaining as the mating habits of the Lebanese tree frog]
Troy Williamson is not the brightest candle in the Menorah. During week 17 of this past NFL season, he once again dropped a perfect pass which would have been six points. After the game, Williamson told reporters that he dropped the pass because he was “too wide open.” This is the equivalent to a hunter missing a deer because the deer was “too close.” Talk about scraping the bottom of the excuses barrel. As it turns out, this comment was the last nail in his Vikings coffin. Williamson caught 79 passes for 1067 yards. In three seasons. Combined. That’s beyond awful, especially since Williamson was touted to be the answer to the Randy Ratio.
Even though the Vikings acquired “just” a sixth round draft pick for Williamson, the trade is fine by me. It is better to get something than nothing at all -- and I believe the Vikings were set to release Williamson if they weren’t able to trade him. Remember, in recent years players like Marques Colston, Tom Brady, Ahmad Bradshaw, Josh Brown, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Marco Rivera, Chester Taylor, Neil Rackers, Dhani Jones, Desmond Clark and Matt Hasselbeck have all been selected in the sixth round or later. The draft is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you are going to get.
So Mr. Faster-Than-A-Speeding-Bullet can spend time blasting past cornerbacks and dropping passes in Jacksonville. Williamson is an excellent example of a mediocre collegiate player who turned on the dazzle for less-than-brilliant NFL scouts with his blazing speed. The fact that he didn't catch very many passes in college didn't seem to matter to the Vikings. If the NFL awarded bonus points for 4.3 speed, maybe Williamson could have come in handy. However, in the Land of Receivers, speed only pays if you can also catch the ball. Give the Vikings credit, they tried to blame Williamson's Teflon hands on everything from his eyesight to his grandmother's death -- they pointed their fingers at everything but their own inability to judge football talent. But lame excuses don't cut it. Especially if you are "too wide open."
But Williamson should feel right at home in northeast Florida, because it is a Mecca for underachieving wide receivers. In fact, Fast Willie joins another wide receiver who also ran really fast at the NFL combine and suddenly was first round material: Matt Jones. Not only had no one ever heard of Jones prior to the NFL combine, he wasn’t even a receiver in college. Yet that didn’t seem to matter to Jacksonville’s crack scouting staff. The logic was: if you are 6’6”, weight 242 pounds and can run a 4.3 forty yard dash, you MUST be able to play receiver in the NFL. Right? Last year Jones ended up with 24 catches for 317 yards, similar to Williamson’s 18 catches for 240 yards. But the similarities don’t end there. Matt and Troy have so much in common, they are practically brothers. They were the two fastest players at the 2005 NFL combine and they were both drafted in the first round of the same year. Once again, speed only pays if you can also catch the ball (hmmm... Randy Moss comes to mind right about now).
Together the First Round Fraternity joins yet another first round underachiever, wide receiver Reggie Williams, and Jerry Porter, a second round pick who was supposed to have been the next big thing for the past seven seasons. Porter has put the “under” in underachieving. Heck, it’s one big happy family!
But don’t forget: You can’t teach speed.
[Editor's note: once again, the following discussion is about football, which some readers will find as entertaining as the mating habits of the Lebanese tree frog]
Troy Williamson is not the brightest candle in the Menorah. During week 17 of this past NFL season, he once again dropped a perfect pass which would have been six points. After the game, Williamson told reporters that he dropped the pass because he was “too wide open.” This is the equivalent to a hunter missing a deer because the deer was “too close.” Talk about scraping the bottom of the excuses barrel. As it turns out, this comment was the last nail in his Vikings coffin. Williamson caught 79 passes for 1067 yards. In three seasons. Combined. That’s beyond awful, especially since Williamson was touted to be the answer to the Randy Ratio.
Even though the Vikings acquired “just” a sixth round draft pick for Williamson, the trade is fine by me. It is better to get something than nothing at all -- and I believe the Vikings were set to release Williamson if they weren’t able to trade him. Remember, in recent years players like Marques Colston, Tom Brady, Ahmad Bradshaw, Josh Brown, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Marco Rivera, Chester Taylor, Neil Rackers, Dhani Jones, Desmond Clark and Matt Hasselbeck have all been selected in the sixth round or later. The draft is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you are going to get.
So Mr. Faster-Than-A-Speeding-Bullet can spend time blasting past cornerbacks and dropping passes in Jacksonville. Williamson is an excellent example of a mediocre collegiate player who turned on the dazzle for less-than-brilliant NFL scouts with his blazing speed. The fact that he didn't catch very many passes in college didn't seem to matter to the Vikings. If the NFL awarded bonus points for 4.3 speed, maybe Williamson could have come in handy. However, in the Land of Receivers, speed only pays if you can also catch the ball. Give the Vikings credit, they tried to blame Williamson's Teflon hands on everything from his eyesight to his grandmother's death -- they pointed their fingers at everything but their own inability to judge football talent. But lame excuses don't cut it. Especially if you are "too wide open."
But Williamson should feel right at home in northeast Florida, because it is a Mecca for underachieving wide receivers. In fact, Fast Willie joins another wide receiver who also ran really fast at the NFL combine and suddenly was first round material: Matt Jones. Not only had no one ever heard of Jones prior to the NFL combine, he wasn’t even a receiver in college. Yet that didn’t seem to matter to Jacksonville’s crack scouting staff. The logic was: if you are 6’6”, weight 242 pounds and can run a 4.3 forty yard dash, you MUST be able to play receiver in the NFL. Right? Last year Jones ended up with 24 catches for 317 yards, similar to Williamson’s 18 catches for 240 yards. But the similarities don’t end there. Matt and Troy have so much in common, they are practically brothers. They were the two fastest players at the 2005 NFL combine and they were both drafted in the first round of the same year. Once again, speed only pays if you can also catch the ball (hmmm... Randy Moss comes to mind right about now).
Together the First Round Fraternity joins yet another first round underachiever, wide receiver Reggie Williams, and Jerry Porter, a second round pick who was supposed to have been the next big thing for the past seven seasons. Porter has put the “under” in underachieving. Heck, it’s one big happy family!
But don’t forget: You can’t teach speed.
