Bretsky
09-16-2006, 12:17 AM
Williams' light hidden under Bush
Posted: Sept. 14, 2006
NFL Beat
Tom Silverstein
E-MAIL
Life is good for Reggie Bush.
The same can't be said for Mario Williams, however. It appears that every time Bush does something significant on the football field, Williams is going to have to pay for it.
Bush, of course, is the running back the Houston Texans didn't select with the No. 1 pick in the draft. He was the consensus No. 1 pick until the Texans did a two-step and settled on Williams, the Adonis-like defensive end from North Carolina State.
On Sunday, Bush looked as NFL-ready as just about any back in the league, carrying 14 times for 61 yards, catching eight passes for 58 yards and returning three punts for 22 yards in New Orleans' 19-14 upset of Cleveland.
Plenty of people wanted the Texans to take Bush before the draft and plenty more wished they had after lead running back Domanick Davis was lost for the season with a knee injury during training camp. So while the Saints trot out Bush and Deuce McAllister, the Texans take the field with sixth-round pick Wali Lundy, Heisman Trophy bust Ron Dayne and the newly acquired former Packer Samkon Gado.
Saints RB Reggie Bush avoids a tackle by Cleveland's Brodney Pool during a pass play on Sunday.
In a 24-10 home loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, the Texans rushed for just 70 yards, the sixth-lowest team total in Week 1, and managed just one sack of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Williams had two solo tackles and one assist.
Everyone who scouted Williams, a junior eligible, knew he was an unfinished product unlike Bush, who probably could have played in the pros in the sixth grade. So it's not surprising that he didn't have a Reggie White impact in his first game.
The Texans probably didn't help his cause, either, playing him all across the defensive line during the course of the game. He played both end spots, the tackle position and over the nose. Instead of getting a steady diet of outside rushes, he had to adjust his game down to down.
"I don't think moving him around has hurt him," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "He shows no signs of the mental part bothering him. If we think that keeping him at one spot makes him more effective, then we'll do that, too."
Williams had been mostly a defensive end in college, although he did shift inside on some passing downs. But moving him around lessens the fatigue factor on the offensive tackle who has to face him down after down and it could be limiting his success.
Someone who knows a little bit about making an impact as a rookie is end Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts, who play host to the Texans this weekend. Freeney was put at right end from the day he arrived in Indianapolis and told to get the quarterback. He has been doing it with frightening frequency ever since.
"If you want a guy to get better, you have to have him do the same thing over and over and over," Freeney said. "If he does 20 different things, he's going to be average. Sometimes, he'll be below average. Sometimes, he might be a little bit better. If you're not doing the same thing every single day, it's going to catch up to you.
"You'll be a good utility player but at the end of the day, you have to be put in a position to excel."
The same can't be said about moving Bush around. The Saints used him as a running back and a receiver and it's likely they'll move him around in more interesting ways this Sunday against Green Bay.
He creates a mismatch with a linebacker if a team plays a base defense against the Saints and if they go with an extra defensive back the Saints can run the ball against a six-man front. It's looking like having Bush fall into their laps in the draft is the best thing that could have happened for the Saints.
"It's good for a quarterback," said Drew Brees, New Orleans' man behind center.
The old fashioned way
If it were Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton meeting on the sideline, one would have thought it was an NFL Films clip.
Only it wasn't the two old Vikings, it was new Vikings coach Brad Childress and quarterback Brad Johnson, forced to gather on the sideline after a number of plays because their wireless communication system had failed Monday night at FedEx Field. It was throwback night for the Vikings as Childress sent in plays with his wide receivers and yelled plays to his quarterback whenever he could make it over to the sideline.
"Hadn't done that since Pop Warner," receiver Travis Taylor said of relaying in the plays. "They would give me the formation and the play. Brad pretty much knows the plays, so I just had to remember two or three words of it and everything was good."
It wasn't so good with Childress, who called the league this week to find out why his system went down and home team Washington's didn't.
Bye bye birdie
For some reason, wide receivers in the NFL have magic powers over ownership.
They seem to be the only players who can force themselves out of town when they aren't on the same page with their head coach or don't like their contract. A lot has changed over the years since Sterling Sharpe once tried to hold Green Bay hostage the night before the 1994 season opener but managed to get only minor adjustments to his contract.
Perhaps the turnaround was when Keyshawn Johnson misbehaved his way out of Tampa Bay in 2003, forcing the team to deactivate him - with pay - for the last six games of the season. Before that, Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn, to a lesser degree, got out and after that Terrell Owens, Javon Walker and Ashley Lelie wiggled their way out of situations they couldn't live with.
The latest to do so was New England wide receiver Deion Branch, who after holding out all of training camp was given the opportunity to negotiate with other teams. When Branch filed grievances with the Patriots because they refused to trade him after he made a deal, the Patriots relented and traded him to Seattle for a first-round pick.
It's unclear why wide receivers have the ability to do what so few others can, but a lot of it appears to be that teams don't want to deal with their behavior anymore. They're usually vocal about their displeasure and it's easier to ship them out than to wait them out.
Shuffle board
One of the reasons the Carolina Panthers were so successful last season was the stability of their offensive line.
This year, they have problems.
Left tackle Travelle Wharton was lost for the season Sunday with a knee injury and center Justin Hartwig (groin) is questionable for Sunday, so it's possible the Panthers could have a complete shuffle of their offensive line with up to four players lined up at new positions.
"You've got to play the cards you're dealt," said left guard Mike Wahle, who could play tackle but probably won't be moved. "You don't ever foresee a guy blowing his (knee) out, but it's part of the deal."
Carpenter's dream
You can't fool Takeo Spikes.
If it looks like rebuilding and quacks like rebuilding, it must be rebuilding.
That's what the Buffalo Bills are apparently doing after cutting ties with veteran Troy Vincent and going with a pair of rookies - Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson - at the safety position.
"I never did want to look at it that way," Spikes said. "But you have to be a realist about every situation that happens. If you write it down on paper or say it out loud, it spells rebuild. As much as you don't want it to be that way, ultimately that's the way that it is."
It takes brains
Don't be surprised if Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett finds himself $10,000 lighter in the pocket.
Dockett put such an obvious late hit on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith that even his own coach said he was wrong for doing it. Smith had rolled all the way out to the right sideline when he stepped out of bounds before throwing. Along came Dockett, who dived at Smith's legs and knocked him down.
"Anytime you play hard and you play all out, you may hit somebody late," Dockett said. "You may tackle somebody the wrong way. If you're not playing hard, then you don't have to worry about hitting anybody out of bounds. I don't think it was a dumb mistake."
Not so, said coach Dennis Green, who flat out told Dockett he was wrong.
Sweet dreams
Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms has had better nights of sleep.
After throwing three interceptions - one returned 60 yards for a touchdown - in the season opener Sunday against the Ravens, he was sentenced to a night of somnolent replay.
"You know, I sleep," Simms said. "But 5 o'clock in the morning rolls around and I wake up just like everybody else does for a couple seconds and I get visions of Chris McAlister running down the sidelines. That's the honest truth. I fall back to sleep eventually, but it's not the most peaceful dreams in the world."
Short yardage
Miami brought in former Detroit wide receiver Charles Rogers for a workout but he was not signed to a contract. . . . After beating his old team, Johnson, the Minnesota quarterback, was seen wearing a Washington jersey on his way to the team bus. . . . The Bills re-signed former Wisconsin safety Jim Leonhard, who was released on the final cut. He'll help back up the two rookies. . . . Oakland signed wide receiver Leo Bookman to its practice squad. Bookman spent a short time in the Packers' training camp.
Posted: Sept. 14, 2006
NFL Beat
Tom Silverstein
Life is good for Reggie Bush.
The same can't be said for Mario Williams, however. It appears that every time Bush does something significant on the football field, Williams is going to have to pay for it.
Bush, of course, is the running back the Houston Texans didn't select with the No. 1 pick in the draft. He was the consensus No. 1 pick until the Texans did a two-step and settled on Williams, the Adonis-like defensive end from North Carolina State.
On Sunday, Bush looked as NFL-ready as just about any back in the league, carrying 14 times for 61 yards, catching eight passes for 58 yards and returning three punts for 22 yards in New Orleans' 19-14 upset of Cleveland.
Plenty of people wanted the Texans to take Bush before the draft and plenty more wished they had after lead running back Domanick Davis was lost for the season with a knee injury during training camp. So while the Saints trot out Bush and Deuce McAllister, the Texans take the field with sixth-round pick Wali Lundy, Heisman Trophy bust Ron Dayne and the newly acquired former Packer Samkon Gado.
Saints RB Reggie Bush avoids a tackle by Cleveland's Brodney Pool during a pass play on Sunday.
In a 24-10 home loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, the Texans rushed for just 70 yards, the sixth-lowest team total in Week 1, and managed just one sack of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Williams had two solo tackles and one assist.
Everyone who scouted Williams, a junior eligible, knew he was an unfinished product unlike Bush, who probably could have played in the pros in the sixth grade. So it's not surprising that he didn't have a Reggie White impact in his first game.
The Texans probably didn't help his cause, either, playing him all across the defensive line during the course of the game. He played both end spots, the tackle position and over the nose. Instead of getting a steady diet of outside rushes, he had to adjust his game down to down.
"I don't think moving him around has hurt him," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "He shows no signs of the mental part bothering him. If we think that keeping him at one spot makes him more effective, then we'll do that, too."
Williams had been mostly a defensive end in college, although he did shift inside on some passing downs. But moving him around lessens the fatigue factor on the offensive tackle who has to face him down after down and it could be limiting his success.
Someone who knows a little bit about making an impact as a rookie is end Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts, who play host to the Texans this weekend. Freeney was put at right end from the day he arrived in Indianapolis and told to get the quarterback. He has been doing it with frightening frequency ever since.
"If you want a guy to get better, you have to have him do the same thing over and over and over," Freeney said. "If he does 20 different things, he's going to be average. Sometimes, he'll be below average. Sometimes, he might be a little bit better. If you're not doing the same thing every single day, it's going to catch up to you.
"You'll be a good utility player but at the end of the day, you have to be put in a position to excel."
The same can't be said about moving Bush around. The Saints used him as a running back and a receiver and it's likely they'll move him around in more interesting ways this Sunday against Green Bay.
He creates a mismatch with a linebacker if a team plays a base defense against the Saints and if they go with an extra defensive back the Saints can run the ball against a six-man front. It's looking like having Bush fall into their laps in the draft is the best thing that could have happened for the Saints.
"It's good for a quarterback," said Drew Brees, New Orleans' man behind center.
The old fashioned way
If it were Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton meeting on the sideline, one would have thought it was an NFL Films clip.
Only it wasn't the two old Vikings, it was new Vikings coach Brad Childress and quarterback Brad Johnson, forced to gather on the sideline after a number of plays because their wireless communication system had failed Monday night at FedEx Field. It was throwback night for the Vikings as Childress sent in plays with his wide receivers and yelled plays to his quarterback whenever he could make it over to the sideline.
"Hadn't done that since Pop Warner," receiver Travis Taylor said of relaying in the plays. "They would give me the formation and the play. Brad pretty much knows the plays, so I just had to remember two or three words of it and everything was good."
It wasn't so good with Childress, who called the league this week to find out why his system went down and home team Washington's didn't.
Bye bye birdie
For some reason, wide receivers in the NFL have magic powers over ownership.
They seem to be the only players who can force themselves out of town when they aren't on the same page with their head coach or don't like their contract. A lot has changed over the years since Sterling Sharpe once tried to hold Green Bay hostage the night before the 1994 season opener but managed to get only minor adjustments to his contract.
Perhaps the turnaround was when Keyshawn Johnson misbehaved his way out of Tampa Bay in 2003, forcing the team to deactivate him - with pay - for the last six games of the season. Before that, Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn, to a lesser degree, got out and after that Terrell Owens, Javon Walker and Ashley Lelie wiggled their way out of situations they couldn't live with.
The latest to do so was New England wide receiver Deion Branch, who after holding out all of training camp was given the opportunity to negotiate with other teams. When Branch filed grievances with the Patriots because they refused to trade him after he made a deal, the Patriots relented and traded him to Seattle for a first-round pick.
It's unclear why wide receivers have the ability to do what so few others can, but a lot of it appears to be that teams don't want to deal with their behavior anymore. They're usually vocal about their displeasure and it's easier to ship them out than to wait them out.
Shuffle board
One of the reasons the Carolina Panthers were so successful last season was the stability of their offensive line.
This year, they have problems.
Left tackle Travelle Wharton was lost for the season Sunday with a knee injury and center Justin Hartwig (groin) is questionable for Sunday, so it's possible the Panthers could have a complete shuffle of their offensive line with up to four players lined up at new positions.
"You've got to play the cards you're dealt," said left guard Mike Wahle, who could play tackle but probably won't be moved. "You don't ever foresee a guy blowing his (knee) out, but it's part of the deal."
Carpenter's dream
You can't fool Takeo Spikes.
If it looks like rebuilding and quacks like rebuilding, it must be rebuilding.
That's what the Buffalo Bills are apparently doing after cutting ties with veteran Troy Vincent and going with a pair of rookies - Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson - at the safety position.
"I never did want to look at it that way," Spikes said. "But you have to be a realist about every situation that happens. If you write it down on paper or say it out loud, it spells rebuild. As much as you don't want it to be that way, ultimately that's the way that it is."
It takes brains
Don't be surprised if Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett finds himself $10,000 lighter in the pocket.
Dockett put such an obvious late hit on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith that even his own coach said he was wrong for doing it. Smith had rolled all the way out to the right sideline when he stepped out of bounds before throwing. Along came Dockett, who dived at Smith's legs and knocked him down.
"Anytime you play hard and you play all out, you may hit somebody late," Dockett said. "You may tackle somebody the wrong way. If you're not playing hard, then you don't have to worry about hitting anybody out of bounds. I don't think it was a dumb mistake."
Not so, said coach Dennis Green, who flat out told Dockett he was wrong.
Sweet dreams
Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms has had better nights of sleep.
After throwing three interceptions - one returned 60 yards for a touchdown - in the season opener Sunday against the Ravens, he was sentenced to a night of somnolent replay.
"You know, I sleep," Simms said. "But 5 o'clock in the morning rolls around and I wake up just like everybody else does for a couple seconds and I get visions of Chris McAlister running down the sidelines. That's the honest truth. I fall back to sleep eventually, but it's not the most peaceful dreams in the world."
Short yardage
Miami brought in former Detroit wide receiver Charles Rogers for a workout but he was not signed to a contract. . . . After beating his old team, Johnson, the Minnesota quarterback, was seen wearing a Washington jersey on his way to the team bus. . . . The Bills re-signed former Wisconsin safety Jim Leonhard, who was released on the final cut. He'll help back up the two rookies. . . . Oakland signed wide receiver Leo Bookman to its practice squad. Bookman spent a short time in the Packers' training camp.