Posts tagged RoyWilliams at FanHouse

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Jon Kitna -- man of God, man of many passing yards, man of many lapses in judgement. With Kitna, Mike Martz found a quarterback who could air it out appropriately in his offense. Appropriately, in this instance, means bombing away with little regard to risk, and the interception and sack totals with Kitna under center reflect that. Martz is gone and the Lions are shifting to a more conservative offense. Kitna isn't the right man to helm it, and, turning 36 early this season, should be on his last tour in Detroit. The problem is that the Lions aren't sure if they have anyone behind him to take over, with Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton possessing exactly zero starts and only 17 passing attempts between them, all Orlovsky's. Heat Index: 5

Running back: That conservative offense will put more work at the feet of the team's tailbacks. The Lions' running game in 2007 was 31st in the league and lost their best runner in Kevin Jones. Still, they're going about improving in the right way. They kept Tatum Bell and Brian Calhoun from last year and tailored their attack to a one-cut zone blocking system that suits their skills. Bell had almost 2,000 yards and 10 touchdowns running in that system in 2005 and 2006. Assuming he stays healthy, he should bring a big-play punch. But the biggest impact will be made by the biggest unknown -- rookie Kevin Smith. He also excels in a zone system, and the wildly productive college back is one of the players I think is going to absolutely turn heads this year. Heat Index: 7

It sucks to be Greg Wesley today. The Raiders released the safety just a few weeks after signing him to make room on the roster for Adam Archuleta. And, yes, that would be the same Adam Archuleta who spent two inglorious seasons with the Redskins and Bears before mercifully getting released.

Well, he's back in the league, not as a defensive back, but at his old college position: linebacker. No, really. I suppose this could be worse -- I mean, the Raiders could've signed Archuleta to play safety.

Luckily, Oakland's secondary is set -- on paper, they're one of the best units in the AFC. The linebacker position could use some depth, and, apparently that's what Archuleta adds.

The Oakland Tribune's Jerry McDonald has all the gory details:

Years of following the Lions has made their fans hostile and bitter. But if you wonder why they continue to show up year after year instead of taking the easy way out and enjoying a more serene life, it's because they care. Some of them a little too much.

Mike Lazzara is a 42-year-old man who just wanted to tell Roy Williams how he could go about doing his job better.

"I didn't use any profanity to him," Lazzara said. "I wanted just to be constructive and tell the guy, 'You know, I'm not making $20 million a season.' The guy takes plays off. You guys look at the tape."

Williams approached the man about switching jobs with the backing of everyone in the place; the team and fans were united against Lazzara. On the bright side, that feeling of being hated should make him more empathetic towards Matt Millen. He was kindly escorted out.

Lazzara has a point when he says that, "There are no signs that say you've got to stay positive." But still, the rights of the fan and freedom of speech aside, we've all sat near these miseries at sporting events, impossible to please like Randy Quaid in Major League II. I'm sure it was a much better and more productive atmosphere with the talker gone.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: We know that Tony Romo isn't a fluke. He stepped in last year and had another fantastic season, setting team records in the process. There are questions remaining about distractions (Romessica) and winning a playoff game (none in his two years) which Romo must answer if he wants to take a place among the NFL's elite. Dallas is putting all their eggs in that basket as the only fallback if Romo gets hurt is 39-yr old Brad Johnson who isn't quite the risk taker. Heat Index: 9

Running backs: It's rare when a team loses their starting running back and everyone is fine with the position. Julius Jones is gone, but rookie Felix Jones is in. Jones (Felix) will get a ton of carries this season to keep Marion Barber fresh. Barber, who only started the Cowboys' playoff game, is the NFL's version of Mariano Rivera -- he dominates late in games and finishes drives off. Jones and Barber will combined for that classic "lightning and thunder" combo and should be quite successful doing it in what supposed to be a more run-friendly offense. Heat Index: 7

This is pretty cool. Blogging the Boys' Dave Halprin is in Oxnard, CA at Cowboys training camp and in addition to covering every on-the-field detail, he's also got some behind-the-scenes stuff from the parking lot of players' hotel.

Specifically, to get this Cowboys-decaled Hummer signed by as many Cowboys as possible. As of this writing, Kevin Burnett, Roy Williams, Adam Jones and Zach Thomas all signed, but it's Halprin's conversation with Thomas that makes the story.

We told Zach that we were bloggers; he turned kind of semi-serious on us and said the blogs always hate on him because he's short. I told him we were hyped to have him in Dallas and we are calling him the tackling machine. He liked that.

Well, credit to Thomas for knowing what a blog is (Braylon Edwards, you've been put on notice ... or something), but I can't remember once reading anybody taking shots at him for being short. In fact, it seems like Thomas is pretty popular because of his height (in addition to, you know, also being a very good football player).

Now, if Thomas had said blogs always hate on him because he can't dance, then, yeah, he's got an argument there.

After watching this video, jaw agape, for the past 10 minutes, I feel safe in writing that Terrell Owens, 34, hasn't lost a step. Oh, and Adam, Deion Sanders is on the horn, he wants his jersey back.



Hey, lady, down in front. DOWN IN FRONT! Despite the obscured view, the "man, Pacman got taken behind the woodshed on that one" was still painfully (delightfully?) obvious. But as MJD points out, look, there isn't a soul on the planet (well, other than DeAngelo Hall ... to hear DeAngelo Hall tell it, anyway) that can stay with Owens in single coverage for four or five seconds.

In fact, I'm pretty sure there isn't a soul on the planet who could stay with Owens with Roy Williams pretending to offer safety help over the top for four or five seconds. That said, this certainly was great fun to watch and the fans really seemed to get into it (although I suspect it won't do much for Jones' burgeoning acting career).

The good news: even with Terence Newman on the shelf for the next few weeks, Jones will only have to face T.O. in practice, so there's that.

One of the funny stories coming out of the retirement of former NC State basketball coach and A.D. Les Robinson is the fact that he tried to bring then-Kansas coach and former/future Tar Heel Roy Williams to Raleigh.

Ol' Roy tells this tale during Robinson's retirement press conference:

"When I was coaching at Kansas, Les was the athletic director at N.C. State. He called me one day about being the new basketball coach of the Wolfpack. I told him he had to be crazy, that the N.C. State people would run him out of town for bringing a UNC guy in to coach the Wolfpack. He just grinned and said, not as long as you win, big fella, not as long as you win."

That probably would be true, but I could never imagine any Wolfpack fan ever opening their arms to a Tar Heel alum. After all, the words "go to hell, Carolina" appears in their fight song.

High School: Huge Hit and Tough Catch - Watch more free videos

Like kickboxing, pro-athlete-blogging is the sport of the future. Cowboys linebacker Kevin Burnett recently started a blog and he's covered all sorts of interesting topics, from the nuances of the Cover-2 to explaining why Roy Williams isn't as bad as he looks.

Yesterday, he wondered if high school athletes should be allowed to enter the NFL draft, what with kids "getting bigger, stronger, and faster and constantly raising the bar of performance."

Do you think the high school football players should have to wait three years before entering into the NFL draft? Yes I do believe that high school kids are not ready for the NFL although I do think some freshmen would have been better off leaving.

That's not a completely insane argument, although, unfortunately, Burnett ends up straddling the fence on the issue.

Personally there are very few teenage bodies that can handle the NFL. On top of the physical try someone like Bill for your first coach. To me that would just be too much to handle for most but I do believe it can be done. With that being said I am not for or against the rule I just believe the option should be there.

My two cents: I'd say the gentleman in the video above is probably ready for the NFL draft. And the fellow in the after-the-jump footage, well, he's not even close, although I'd love to see him in a preseason game.

(By the way, I applaud Burnett for making his blog HATER PROOF. FanHouse could definitely use some of that.)

It's the deadest part of the offseason, which means we'll be reading about things marginally related to football like top-50 players, doctored videos, visits to the Playboy Mansion, and, of course, Rodney Harrison, the NFL's dirtiest player.

While some NFL coaches agree that Harrison is one of the league's dirtiest players, ESPN.com's Mike Sando writes that there are plenty of other guys worthy of a little finger-pointing:

A review of data since 2001 shows Arizona Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson with a league-high 17 personal fouls. Harrison and New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith are tied for second with 14, followed by Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour (13), Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor (12), late Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor (12) and Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Shaun Rogers (11).

According to 11 of 18 head coaches who responded to Sando, Cowboys' safety Roy Williams finished second behind Harrison (interestingly, Wade Phillips voted for Williams. Twice.*), followed by Antonio Pierce, Hines Ward, Kevin Mawae and Olin Kreutz.

Former Patriots teammate Deion Branch "draws a line between Harrison's hard-nosed play" and, say, Travis Johnson talking smack over a dying Trent Green. Not sure anybody would disagree on that on.

Brandon Stokley, who said he would've "bet his life savings" on Harrison earning top honors, also singled out Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan "as a player with bad intentions." And I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean that in a topless, sausage-party, "what about the kids?" way.

* Joke. Coaches were only allowed to vote once.

The Dallas Morning News' Albert Breer takes us back to a simpler time, at the turn of the century, when Dave Campo was the head coach, and the Cowboys were absolutely dreadful. During Campo's reign of terror (2000-2002), Dallas won 15 times, but perhaps the most memorable game of his tenure was the 2000 Week 4 loss to San Francisco.

Terrell Owens, then a brash, young wide receiver for the 49ers, disrespected an entire region by scoring a touchdown, sprinting 50 yards to midfield, and slamming the football smack dab in the middle of the ol' Texas star. Good times.

Thankfully, Cowboys defensive back George Teague was right behind Owens, and promptly laid him out seconds after he completed his disgusting act. (Video courtesy of Breer. To skip the social commentary and get to the footage, start at about the 1:15 mark.)



Eight years later, T.O. now plays for the Cowboys and, by most accounts, is wildly popular. But Teague, who is now the coach and athletic director at Carrollton Christan, still gets asked about "the incident":