Williams’ job isn’t in jeopardy … yet
By Tim MacMahon, ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas — Roy Williams spent most of the Cowboys’ final series in the Superdome on the sideline.

It’s just a coincidence that Williams dropped a perfect pass to end the previous possession, Wade Phillips said.

Williams offered a half-hearted apology for the drop — his second of the game — and said he’d make up for it this week. He probably won’t get that many opportunities.

Kevin Ogletree and Sam Hurd both got some playing time in two-receiver sets against the Saints. They combined to catch all three balls thrown their way, including a pretty tippy-toe grab by Ogletree on an out on the sideline.

Phillips indicated that Ogletree and Hurd had earned more opportunities.

“It’s different players and what they can do and whether they deserve to play,” Phillips said.

That doesn’t mean Williams’ starting job is in jeopardy. A $9 million receiver that arrived in a blockbuster trade isn’t going to be a reserve.

Williams will start as long as he’s on the roster. However, if the coaches are more confident in Ogletree than Williams, does it make sense to keep the receiver with the enormous salary next season?

IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams wants to clarify something: He’s not guaranteeing victory over the New Orleans Saints on Saturday night.

“Might as well crown them, right?” Williams said with a smirk Tuesday. “They’re undefeated. It’s December. We don’t have a chance.”

Then with a serious tone, Williams added: “This is a two-round fight, and this is just the first round, in my eyes. I don’t know about everybody else, but I think we’re going to see this team in the playoffs down the road.”

After receiving messages saying he guaranteed victory, Williams said Wednesday that wasn’t the case.

“If I’m going to guarantee a victory, I’m going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to win this ballgame,’ and that’s not what I said. That’s not in my blood. I experimented with that my rookie year [in Detroit] and it didn’t go over too well. So there’s no possible way that I’m going to say I’m going to guarantee a victory.

“All I said was if we pack our bags, offense, defense and special teams, we should be victorious. Now that doesn’t mean we’re going to win the game.”

Williams, who has 36 catches for 578 yards and six touchdowns, said he was trying to pump up the game like boxing promoter Don King would.

“It’s a big game,” Williams said. “It’s a quote-on-quote, the only big game the Saints have left on their schedule to be undefeated, which is big for them. This is a way to promote this thing and get this thing blown up.

“I’ve been laying under the radar. It’s no need for me to say anything. I’m not guaranteeing anything. The guarantee didn’t come out of my mouth.”

Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton said Williams was expressing confidence that his team can win in the Superdome.

“That’s the way we took it,” Crayton said. “I think that’s the way we feel as a team. If we’re on top of our game, if we play the way we’re capable of playing, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t come out of this game victorious.”

IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams looks forward to the challenge of facing a Super Bowl championship team Saturday night.

Except the 13-0 New Orleans Saints haven’t ever been to a Super Bowl, much less won one.

“Might as well crown them, right?” Williams said with more than a hint of saracasm Tuesday. “They’re undefeated. It’s December. We don’t have a chance.”

With a straight face, Williams said he is also looking forward to a rematch with the Saints in the Superdome.

“This is a two-round fight, and this is just the first round, in my eyes,” Williams said. “I don’t know about everybody else, but I think we’re going to see this team in the playoffs down the road.”

The odds of that happening increase dramatically if the Cowboys (8-5) can win Saturday. If they don’t, their playoff hopes will be on the ropes.

But that hasn’t stopped Williams from taking on an Ali-like swagger.

“If we pack our bags and show up in New Orleans on Saturday night,” he said, “we should be victorious.”

Williams: ‘Good starting point for us’
By Calvin Watkins, ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas — One week later, everything’s fine for Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Roy Williams.

“I was comfortable with him a week ago,” Romo said Thursday. “It’s about improving every day. [Just] because in the game it looked better, it didn’t mean that we hadn’t been practicing a certain way or that we weren’t improving on the practice field.”

Romo and Williams finally seemed to develop a connection during Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, with the receiver catching five passes for 75 yards.

It was the most catches in a game for Williams since the Cowboys dealt three draft picks to the Detroit Lions for him last October.

Last week, Romo and Williams worked after practice to help improve their chemistry after Williams had voiced his frustrations publicly. During games this season, Williams said Romo threw better passes to the team’s other receivers, and passes to Williams were either high or behind him.

How Williams got out of his breaks, Romo’s trust in him and defensive coverages were other issues.

Before Sunday’s game, Romo had completed just 14 out of 37 passes to Williams, while the quarterback had better numbers with tight end Jason Witten (37-48), receiver Miles Austin (26-72) and Patrick Crayton (20-39).

“For me, I practice at the same tempo in practice that I do in the game,” Romo said. “So if I’m doing it out there and I’m seeing things out there, I expect it to be the same in the game. That’s what I believe, that’s how I’ve always practiced and that’s how I believe you can get better.”

Williams said his comfort level is getting better with Romo. The emergence of Austin — who has six touchdowns in the last four weeks — has forced defenses to pay attention to him. The Eagles tried to slow Austin down, holding the receiver without a catch until his 49-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.

The extra work in practice and Austin getting more defensive attention might open the door for Williams to produce more.

This Sunday, the Packers host the Cowboys and they have an aggressive set of corners in Al Harris and Charles Woodson.

“You have to understand, my catches were all slants,” Williams said. “It really wasn’t nothing else. That’s a good starting point for us. We’ll only get better, and we’ll see what happens this Sunday.”

Williams, Jones, Sensabaugh return to practice
By: Tim MacMahon, ESPNDallas.com

Wide receiver Roy Williams (ribs), running back Felix Jones (knee) and safety Gerald Sensabaugh (thumb) practiced Wednesday at Standridge Stadium.

Owner/general manager Jerry Jones said he expected Williams and Felix Jones to play Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. They both returned to practice Monday.

Sensabaugh’s status is uncertain. This is his first practice since having surgery on his thumb Oct. 4. He is wearing a cast.

(Williams)

WR Williams dealing with bruised ribs
By Calvin Watkins, ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams has three bruised ribs, and his status for Sunday’s game at Kansas City is in question.

Coach Wade Phillips also said Monday that Williams has some cartilage damage. Williams, who said he was fine but wouldn’t elaborate, was receiving treatment with an electronic stimulator placed under his shirt.

Williams was injured in the fourth quarter of the Cowboys’ loss at Denver on Sunday when he was reaching for a high throw from quarterback Tony Romo and took a hit to the stomach from Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams.

“Depends on the pain and so forth as far as what his situation will be,” Phillips said.

—–

(Sensabugh)

Safety Sensabaugh to have surgery
By Calvin Watkins, ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas — Cowboys starting strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh is scheduled to undergo surgery on his broken right thumb Monday.

Sensabaugh said he broke a bone in his thumb in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos. He hopes to play Sunday at Kansas City, but Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said Sensabaugh could miss up to four weeks.

Sensabaugh, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Patrick Watkins on Sunday, said he broke the same thumb and missed only one game when he played at East Tennessee State.

Calvin Watkins covers the Cowboys for ESPN.com.

Jerry Jones: Roy Williams will be back “real quick”
Tim MacMahon/Blogger, Dallas Morning News

The official diagnosis on Roy Williams is that he has a contusion on
his left shoulder.

That’s a fancy word for a bruise, so he avoided serious injury.

During an appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Jerry Jones did not commit to a
timetable for Williams’ return but strongly hinted the receiver would
be available for the Sept. 13 season opener.

“I’m not implying that we have a long-winded thing here,” said Jerry,
who stated that the Cowboys will not consider signing a veteran
receiver. “Based on our review here, we’re talking about a very short
timespan. I don’t know that he’ll go Saturday … but he’ll be out
there real quick.”

Roy Williams suffers shoulder injury in practice
By CLARENCE E. HILL JR., Fort Worth Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON — A damper was put on what had been a widely successful open practice at the new Cowboys Stadium Thursday when receiver Roy Williams suffered a shoulder injury following a hard collision with cornerback Orlando Scandrick at the goal line.

X-rays showed no fracture. Williams’ status is uncertain for Saturday’s preseason game against San Francisco.

A Cowboys practice record crowd of 26,460 watched Williams go for a football near the end zone only to be hit by Scandrick. Williams crumpled to the ground and immediately grabbed his left shoulder. The Cowboys are two days away from Saturday’s preseason game which was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the regular season.

Williams was looked at by Cowboys trainer Jim Maurer and could be seen wincing in pain when his shoulder was touched. Williams threw his helmet down and walked angrily toward the locker room. He stopped to have words with Scandrick before leaving the field.

“I tried not to hit you,” Scandrick said.

The Cowboys practiced without pads on a day that was meant to celebrate the fans and the new stadium. Now they are left with uncertainty about the availability of the man who was supposed to replace Terrell Owens as the No. 1 receiver.

The Cowboys have yet to determine the extent of Williams’ injury. Coach Wade Phillips said they will get more information once X-rays were taken and he didn’t want to speculate before then.

The Cowboys did not wear pads in practice and Phillips said he often talks to his players about avoiding contact when the players are not wearing pads, like Thursday’s practice.

This isn’t the first contact between Scandrick and Williams in this training camp.The two have been competitive throughout. Williams injured his wrist two weeks ago after being tangled up with Scandrick. There was also a incident when Scandrick hit Williams hard enough to knock off his helmet.

Scandrick declined to talk after practice. He did try to explain to receiver Patrick Crayton that he was told to go hard but he tried to avoid the hit. After hearing results of the X-rays, Williams said in a text message that he had “no hard feelings” toward Scandrick. “That’s my teammate,” he wrote. “We’re all good.”

Cowboys rallied around Scandrick and Williams alike, acknowledging that its a difficult situation but saying it’s part of football.

Said linebacker Bradie James: “We’re out here competing and going for a ball you’re just going to run into each other, that’s just how it is. That’s why half of the time you want to have some kind of pads, shells on. Hopefully everybody’s all right.”

If Williams can’t play on Saturday, the Cowboys could be down two of their top four receivers as Sam Hurd hasn’t practiced all week because of with a thigh bruise.

A source with knowledge of the situation tells us that X-rays on the collarbone of Cowboys receiver Roy Williams were unexpectedly negative.

Multiple sources tell us that the initial diagnosis was a broken collarbone. One source tells us that Williams himself told multiple teammates that the collarbone was broken.

For now, Williams has gone home for the evening. He’ll ice the area, and the team is expected to conduct an MRI on Friday.

We apologize for jumping the gun on this one. We assumed (ass-you-me) that the information was based on an X-ray, and it’s our fault for not ensuring the proper degree of clarity.

So it’s good news for Williams and the Cowboys.

Unless the MRI shows a break.

Source: Broken collarbone for Roy Williams
Posted by Mike Florio on August 27, 2009 10:20 PM ET
Paging Marvin Harrison.

Paging Marvin Harrison.

A league source tells us that Cowboys receiver Roy Williams suffered a broken collarbone during his Thursday night collision with cornerback Orlando Scandrick.

Typically, a broken collarbone requires a healing period of six to eight weeks.

Paging Marvin Harrison.