Roy Williams Will Help Dallas, Irvin Shouldn't Make Excuses for Owens

Roy Williams is an upgrade for the Cowboys, considering how misfit Terrell Owens is playing.

As for Michael Irvin’s excuses about how Owens faces more physical cornerbacks than legendary Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice did, forget it.

He needs to take a look at the tough secondaries Rice faced in an NFC composed of many of the best teams the NFL has ever seen.

While I like Irvin a lot, and respect him for the positive things he has accomplished after football, his excuse-making for Owens is preposterous.

Owens can’t even get off the line when met by no-name cornerbacks in single coverage.

Forget Wade Phillips’s excuses, too.

The fact is, Cowboy fans, that Owens is stinking up your stadium and he has cast a long shadow on your feeble star.

Let’s see how Williams, an Odessa, Texas native, looks.

(For Owens’s hilariously pitiful stats, please see my other Bleacher Report column on this sensitive fella.)

Williams has played with average—some might say less-than-average—quarterbacks, while Owens has played with some very good quarterbacks. (Oh, he’s predictably turned on them all. With Romo, though, he added a new layer by pathetically crying.)

In 2004, Williams played with Joey Harrington, who threw for 3,047 yards, 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, six fumbles (three lost), a 56 percent completion percentage, and a 77.5 quarterback rating.

In that year, Williams played 14 games, catching 54 passes for 817 yards for eight TDs.

In 2005, he played with Harrington and Jeff Garcia.

Here are Garcia’s numbers: 937 yards, 59 percent completion percentage, three TDs, six INTs, 65.1 rating, and one fumble (one lost).

Here are Harrington’s numbers: 2,021 yards, 57 percent, 12 TDs, 12 INTs, seven fumbles (four lost), and a 72 rating.

It’s obvious that 2005 wasn’t a good year in Detroit, and yet Williams caught 45 passes for 687 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games.

In 2006, Jon Kitna quarterbacked for Detroit and threw for 4,208 yards, 62.4 percent, 21 TDs, 22 INTs, 11 fumbles (nine lost), and a 79.9 rating.

Kitna’s yardage total is deceptive, unless you consider his interceptions, fumbles lost, and quarterback rating. Those three stats make it difficult for receivers.

Despite those facts, Williams caught 82 passes for 1,310 yards and seven TDs in 16 games.

In 2007, Kitna threw for 4,068 yards, 63.3 percent, 18 TDs, 20 INTs, 17 fumbles (six lost), and an 80.9 rating.

Williams caught 64 passes in 12 games for 838 yards and five touchdowns.

Detroit has imploded this year, so I’m not even going to embarrass Williams with his stats.

Here are Tony Romo's stats:

In 2006, Romo threw for 2,903 yards, 19 TDs, 13 INTs, 65.3 percent, nine fumbles (3 lost), and a 95.1 QB rating in 10 starts.

In 2007, Romo hit his stride and threw for 4,211 yards, 36 TDs, 19 INTs, 64.4 percent, 10 fumbles (two lost), and a 97.4 rating.

Now the fun starts. We'll see how Owens reacts to having a better receiver on the same team.