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Roy Williams is really good at fumbling and short arming balls over the middle. How Mike Martz continues to have his say in personnel is mind boggling.
Let it be known immediately that it takes a lot to get me to write a blog post on a Saturday in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, today is one of those “a lot” days. The Bears have finally dipped into the wide receiver pool and, much to my chagrin, they signed Roy Williams from a team that had zero interest in keeping him. No, not the safety who can’t cover you, but the wide receiver that doesn’t like going over the middle. You know the guy, right? If you aren’t familiar, he’s the guy who made the Lions draft Calvin Johnson because they knew they had an overrated clown on their hands.
God forbid that the Bears heeded my advice and made a play for Sidney Rice. They apparently didn’t even sniff around to see what Rice’s asking price was. It was steep ($41 million for 5 years with $18.5 million guaranteed), but why would I ever be so naive to think that a SuperBowl contender would dish out big bucks for a legitimate threat for Jay Cutler? Stupid me.
How dare I dream of defensive coordinators in the NFC North reaching for bottles of Johnny Walker Blue Label when trying to figure out how to stop a multidimensional Bears offense?
Leave it to the charter franchise of the NFL to consult their dim-witted offensive coordinator on a position of need. The same guy who couldn’t wait to make J.T. O’Sullivan his quarterback in San Francisco has his hands all over the Williams signing. Shame on me to think that Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith (the guy who said that they “have 5 #1 receivers”) would tell Martz, “you’ll coach who the hell we give you, and that’s that.” I figured that after the philosophical change in the scheme during the bye week last season, the Todd Collins disaster, and the end around on 3rd down in the title game, Martz would be lucky to be consulted on what flavor Gatorade is served at training camp practices.
I guess his consent is needed for the place where “wide receivers go to die.” So yeah, I hate the Roy Williams signing. I won’t even waste breath or key strokes on Sam Hurd and Vernon “I have as many career sacks as you do” Gholston because the mere mention of them makes my ass itch.
Instead of giving Cutler a reliable target, the Bears gave him a guy who hasn’t been productive in half a decade (2006 when Williams had 82 catches, 1,310 yards, & 7 TD’s for the Lions). Before you go all meatball on me and tell me that ’06 was his best year and it was with Martz, just remember that season was an anomaly for Williams. Since then, here are his numbers…
2007: 64 catches, 838 yards, & 5 TD’s.
2008: 36 catches, 430 yards, & 2 TD’s.
2009: 38 catches, 596 yards, & 7 TD’s.
2010: 37 catches, 530 yards, & 5 TD’s.
Should Williams improve an offense that was 30th in total yards, and 28th in passing yards? It would be a train wreck if he didn’t. I know Cutler called him “a go to guy,” but I’m not buying it. Ask Cowboys fans what they think of a guy who was their 3rd best receiver last year. This is another small minded thinking move by a team that hates signing wide receivers. If a guy like Mike Shanahan was the offensive coordinator, then I would have more faith in who he wanted. However, every personnel move that Mike Martz has been involved with since he’s been here has been an abomination (see Brandon Manumaleuna & Chester Taylor).
If this move works out, you know where to send the crow for me to eat. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I’ll be comparing this move to the Bucs signing Alvin Harper back in the day.
Follow me on Twitter @Louie_Ruffolo8
