Williams Has 12th-Most Catches Among NFL WRs
December 7th, 2011
Joe’s heard plenty of fans and pundits moan and groan about Mike Williams’ play falling off this season, and Joe’s heard the talk from those who think the Bucs are short of talent in the receivers department.
Sure, Williams hasn’t been as sharp as he was in 2010. Part of that is defenses rolling more coverages and double teams his way. Another part is the dropped passes, and another part is Greg Olson taking several weeks to remember that throwing Williams a slant pass works pretty darn well.
That written, Williams clearly has regained top form over the past two games, and for a guy having an “off year,” Williams has managed to have the 12th-most catches among NFL wide receivers this season with 57.
Take a moment to compare Williams body of work over 2010 and 2011, and you could easily argue he’s the best wide receiver in his draft class. Dez Bryant? Antonio Brown? Eric Decker? Joe still takes Williams.
As the Bucs head into the home stretch of what’s been a heinous season, Joe will be watching Williams’ performance down the stretch closely. Joe suspects he won’t be disappointed.
December 7th, 2011 at 11:52 am
I laugh when people try to compare him to Clayton. He is still on pace for 70 some grabs and close to 900 yards that is more than Clayton had in his 2nd and 3rd years combined. If 900 yards is a down year that’s fine by my.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
He has talent thats for sure, he proved it last year. Maybe its the coaching thats fallen off a bit?
But he can an be electric player, he made some amazing catches last year. Hes no M. Clayton so i think he can omprove on his catches.
I really believe this team can be very good. The peices are there, they just need to sprinkle a bit here and there. They’ll be back to form again next year.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
That and Benn is no slouch! that boy can ball, and is open more often then not. Just doesn’t get the ball thrown to him.. Now we may not have a 4.2 burner Randy Moss style receiver, but we do have 2 of the best WR out of that draft class!
December 7th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
The severity of his drops are not Clayton like, but he’d be higher than 12th in recptions, if he caught the 7 drops he’s had this year. That would put him at 64 would put him at 8th.
BTW were tied for third place with Rams and Falcons in dropped passes with 24 total.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
They have two slightly above average guys – K-2 and Williams.
Is their receiving corp nearly as good as the Saints, or Falcons?
Not even close. But this whole thing misses the point. Every single roster in the NFl has some very talented players.
The receiving corp would look considerably better if they had supplemented the decent draft talent with a key vet or two. THink Boldin would have helped Free? Holmes? Marshall?
Its the absence of what could have been that indicts the front office at one buc place. Which is why you can’t place 100% of the blame on coaching.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Antonio Brown is on fire. Give him a little time and he might be the best of the group.
If Williams had a competent threat playing alongside him, his numbers might be even better.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
I’d say 3 games, but he has finally come back into form. Horrific season up until recently though.
And the catch stats are one thing, but his TD stats are not good this year at all.
I like him moving forward, and I don’t think he is going to be Clayton 2.0.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
I disagree. I think if we added vets we would be in the same boat. The defense would have still struggled due to their lack of experience (and talent in a couple areas) and the offensive liine struggled badly for a bunch of games as well.
K2 IS a vet, and it hasn’t made much difference.
Williams has struggled a little bit, but many WRs struggle in their second year. He’ll be on fire next year, assuming Freeman steps up his game again.
I DO think we need a vet or two…but I disagree about the WR position. I think we are fine there…they just need better coaching.
I DO think we need a vet RB and a hard hitting/blocking Fullback. And I think we need better talent on the offensive line. They are passable, but not great.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Let me put it this way, how many NFL teams would trade their receiving corp for ours?
December 7th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
eric:
Santonio Holmes for a fifth round pick. smh
December 7th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I’d take our WR corp, without hesitation, over the Bills, Dolphins, Bengals, Titans, Redskins, Jaguars, Bears, Denver, Vikings, Browns, Bengals, Chiefs, 49ers, Rams and Raiders. That’s half the league. I don’t think we are that bad off. Benn, Williams and Briscoe all could shine more with a better coaching staff and coordinator.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Eric, heres the list you requested: browns, titans, bears, vikings, raiders, patriots, colts, rams, seahawks, redskins.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
The Patriots and Colts Kyle? Seriously? Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker are pretty damn good. The colts have Pierre Garcon, Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie and Dallas Clark. Obviously Clark is hurt and with Manning out it hurts them but both of those teams have just as many if not more weapons than we do.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Stats are for Losers
December 7th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Williams is definitely a solid receiver, he has having a down year compared to last year but that happens the whole team is too. He still has a chance to get 1000 yards this year. As for his TD first we are never in the red zone and Olson’s play calling is horrible in the red zone. I don’t think i have seen blount get the ball once in the red zone all season so i’m sure wiliams is getting double teamed in that aspect because all teams know were throwing it.
As for talent at WR, we could definitely use a little help. Winslow is basically a WR with a bad attitude, he has made some plays but also hurt us, and is no longer a feared weapon in my opinion. We HAVE NO ONE ON THIS TEAM WITH WIGGLE OR SPEED. what i mean by that is we don’t have one guy on this team that any time he can get the ball he will break one down the field for a long run or juke out three or four defenders, we simply don’t have it. We also don’t have any size. granted williams can jump for the ball but this year freeman has not given him too many jump ball opportunities but what about a guy like tommy streeter miami. dude is 6’5″ with blazing speed in the second round. and a joe adams who has played wr kr and some rb at college. These type of guys would open the offense up and get williams some more looks as well as provide a deep threat
December 7th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Not so sure that I’d take Mike over Dez Bryant, Dez is a freak of talent. And I’m tired of hearing the excuse for Mike “Oh they’re bracketing him, they’re doubling him, etc…” DUH. He’s a number one receiver, of course they’re paying attention to him. That’s not an excuse. If the dude hangs on to all the passes he’s had thrown his way he’d have close to 70 catches.
Mike is still a very good player though, play calling is party to blame along with Josh having a pretty crappy year. People comparing him to Clayton are clowns.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
And @Eric, the Browns, Bills, Seahawks, Rams, Denver, Bears and Vikings would all take our receiving core.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Anybody with a football brain takes Dez over Williams, probably Brown too. I would be torn between decker snd will.
December 7th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
OK, thats seven teams out of 31.
So that means 24 teams out of 32 are better than us in terms of receivers?
Sounds about right since thats where we are currenlty ranked in the standings.
December 7th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
good receivers play well regardless who is throwing them the ball see Al Toon and how well are the colts receivers playing this year? Just shows that even not playing a snap yet this year manning should be the mvp
December 7th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
If you look at our team as a unit consisting of:
QB’s
RB’s
Oline
receivers
Dline
lb’s
secondary
Any of these units, based upon actual play(not “blossoming”), in even the top fifteen in the league?
I say maybe oline, and its marginal.
December 7th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
The difference has been Freeman. Last year half the catches and most TD’s came from Free throwing jump balls, and fades. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen it this year.
Eddie Royal seems like a mark dominick style pick up.
Or Kendal Wright in the 3rd, maybe 2nd.
December 7th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Thomas,
Dez Bryant over Williams???? Why? Bryant is always injured, has serious character issues, and has a poor work ethic? Williams also has better stats. Dez is more explosive, but not a better player (at least not now). It’s amazing how you criticize the team for their issues on and off the field, yet you would rather have a head case like Dez Bryant. You will truly never be happy.
December 7th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Nah Hawaiian, I’ve gotta side with Thomas on this one. Dez has athletic ability that a lot of receivers wish they had. I’ll give you that Dez is always hurt and he’s got character issues, that’s a legit point. But just looking at pure athleticism and receiver ability, Dez is the better player in my opinion.
December 7th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
@K2,
So you want potential or results? Hell, Ryan Leaf had the potential to be a Hall of Fame QB. How did that work out? So no, he’s not a better player than Mike Williams, not even close. Could he end up being better, maybe, but I doubt it. Who produces on the field and who barely gets on the field? Who can’t pay for his bling bling and who does his job every single day? Who is a diva in the purest sense of the word, and who holds himself accountable for everything he does?
December 7th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
BucNeckid
“Stats are for Losers”
Yeah, we got that stat covered too!
December 7th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Well actually, Dez has more yards and touchdowns than Mike this year. So….not sure your production point matters Hawaiian. I suggest you actually watch the two play and get back to me about who’s better. There’s no question.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Dez returns kicks too……
December 7th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
what about that THOMAS guy from the brocos ? he was the first WR drafted in Williams class and he’s on fire right now(with him tebow throwing the ball). Williams is just too slow, he should be our slot receiver. play him like how the Pats play Welker, put him in different places get him over. im tired seeing run the slant, 5 yards curl. i meant our offensive play call is too predictable
December 7th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Capt. Stagger Benn return kick too! benn is the most talents wide out(except how he runs his routes) that we have. our coaches are just too dumb.
December 7th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
@K2
So we are going to just talk about this year? He’s beating him by like 30 yards. Not mentioning the fact that their offense is about a million times better than ours. Dez has much better receivers along side him also (arguably a better TE too). I have watched Dez play many times this season, and he almost NEVER gets double teamed. That is a fact. So yes, there is a question
December 7th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
If you really want to look at this year only and blindly look at stats, then there are about 15 better TE’s in the game than Winslow. You and I both know that isn’t true, but that’s no different than the argument you bring up with Williams.
December 7th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Our receiver corp would look better if Freeman would throw to them instead of the other team its time to put the blame where it belongs on Freeman’s poor decision making this year
December 7th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Dez is beating him by a good amount in touchdowns, you left that out.
Your point about him playing in a good offense works against you as well. He competes for targets with Witten, Robinson and Austin. So putting up the big numbers is going to be a little more difficult just based off of that. If you truly do watch both Dez and Mike then you can’t really tell me that Dez doesn’t do the following better than Mike; 1) Hands, 2) Speed, 3) Leaping ability. Maybe I see these things better than somebody else because I’ve played the wide receiver position, but they’re pretty obvious I think.
If you want to compare the two last year it’s not really fair seeing as how Dez was injured most of the season. Dez has had a better year than Mike this year while missing a game. Mike had a better year than Dez last year while Dez missed multiple games.
December 8th, 2011 at 12:21 am
Williams is good, but I think we need to need to add an additonal receiver this offseason. Go for DeSean Jackson this offseason. And I don’t want to hear any reasons why we shouldn’t sign him, cause there’s none. He’s the guy that shreds defenses and beats people down the field. He’s got speed, something our offense really needs. I’d love to have him here.
If Andy Reid comes here, I’m sure he’ll bring Jackson with him.
December 8th, 2011 at 1:51 am
There are some delusional fans here.
@ Kyle: Of the list you provided, titans, vikings, raiders, patriots, colts, seahawks all have better targets for a QB than Bucs.
Titans have Kenny Britt and Nate Washington. Britt is better than anything we have while Nate is certainly doing better than Benn in terms of production.
Vikes have a real playmaker in Harvin, two solid TEs in Shancoe and the other guy they drafted from Notre Dame last season.
Raiders, everyone like to pick on Raiders, but they have a good bunch of receivers that we would love to have. They have terrific speed in Jacoby Ford and Hey-Bey, a playmaker in a rookie guy they found this season, reliable hands in Murphy. Now, they aren’t really better than our corps, but they have solid deep threats our offense lacks and I dont think they would be willing to swap their core with ours.
Pats and Colts? I don’t even need to type.
Seahawks have USC Mike Williams who is doing much better these days, Sidney Rice, Zach Miller who is young as good as Winslow
December 8th, 2011 at 3:50 am
Dez missed 4 games last year, so it’s not like he missed the whole season. He never gets double covered, EVER. Can you say the same about Williams?
December 8th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
heres the deal. DEZ is a freak and has the ability to break a play any time he catches the ball, williams does not. I love mike williams and i think he will just get better. However mike williams doesn’t juke anyone and is not explosive. Does that mean he is a bad reciever no not at all. As someone stated earlier mike williams hasn’t had the fade or jump balls thrown to him as often as he had last year and thats why his TD are down. If he can have 10 TD and 900 yards every season i would gladly want him on this team, however we need EXPLOSION to go along with that. Dez brings that and i beleive that is why people side with dez not mike williams. Me personally would take mike williams over dez just to the fact he is healthy and causes no off the field problems, i can easily see dez not ending his career with the cowboys he wont want to be second fiddle to austin, or him forcing austin off the team.