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IRVING — It was Victory Monday and another quiet day at the Dallas Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters.
The players had the day off following the 38-17 shellacking of the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.Coach Wade Phillips was passing out helpings of praise to his players such as Halloween candy in Southlake.Conspicuously absent from the list was receiver Roy Williams, who, despite a 7-yard touchdown reception, had another disappointing game.Phillips has mastered the art of accentuating the positives, but even he can’t sugarcoat the lack of cohesion between Williams and quarterback Tony Romo.Williams, the team’s third highest-paid player with a $9 million annual salary, is fourth on the team in receptions with just 14 catches for 249 yards. What’s worse is that he and Romo rarely are on the same page. The balls are high or behind him and/or they have miscommunication on routes. That was the case on Sunday against the Seahawks.Interestingly, Romo doesn’t seem to have that problem with the team’s other receivers such as breakout star Miles Austin, who has 26 catches for 563 yards and six touchdowns."They work at it really hard in practice," Phillips said. "We see it a little bit in practice some, and that’s why they keep practicing. Tony doesn’t throw many bad balls."The first inside cut that Roy was open [was high]. We’ve just seen that a couple of times. It hasn’t happened with Miles [Austin] when he ran the routes."Williams is obviously frustrated, especially considering he began playing catch with Romo in February in hopes of alleviating this problem."I have no idea, I can’t put a finger on it even though we came in a month earlier before everybody else," Williams said."We throw every day. I’m the guy that he throws to every day in practice. I have no idea. I’ve tried everything."While Phillips acknowledges the reality of Williams’ struggles, he said he is not overly concerned. The Cowboys don’t need to force him the ball because of Austin’s emergence and the plethora of other options.He also believes that Williams’ time is going to come because he is simply too talented."I think some of it is just happenstance and some of it is just them keep working at it," Phillips said."You see Roy’s talent in practice. He makes catches that nobody makes. We believe in our quarterback and we certainly believe in Roy Williams. It’ll come."Crayton soaringWade Phillips said that acquiring return specialist Allen Rossum was more out of a need for a kickoff returner, but figured they’d also use him as a punt returner.When Rossum pulled a hamstring on his first kickoff return against Atlanta, Patrick Crayton took his job back as punt returner. He went 82 yards Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, giving him consecutive games with a punt return for touchdown, the only two of his career. "The guys up front are really giving even more effort because I think they realize now that we have the potential to break one any moment," Crayon said. "If we get a returnable punt and block up a little, we got the potential to take it all the way back to the house now."Crayon muffed another punt Sunday, a problem all season, but Phillips said it’s nothing he’s worried about."He’s pretty dependable," Phillips said.Hamlin fine coming?Ken Hamlin drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike contact penalty for hitting unsuspecting Seattle tight end John Carlson after Matt Hasselbeck’s intended pass to Carlson had fallen incomplete.Hamlin didn’t like the call and pleaded his case to the official. The NFL has fined at least one Cowboys player after six of the first seven games. Last week’s Atlanta game was the only one in which a player did not draw a fine. Hamlin’s late hit might end that streak at one.The league informs players on Wednesday if they’ve been fined. A fine would be a first for Hamlin this season."The guy [Carlson] reached up for the ball and he [Hamlin] hit him," Wade Phillips said. "He didn’t hit him in the head. I don’t know. We’ll see if they fine him or not."Jeff Caplan contributed to this report.
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