Todd Archer

Archive | E-mail

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Roy Williams had his first 100-yard receiving game since coming to the Cowboys.

"I'd rather have my usual two for 27 with a win, know what I mean?" said Williams, who had gone 18 games since his last 100-yard receiving game.

Williams caught a 9-yard touchdown pass with 38 seconds left on a perfect fade pass over cornerback Tramon Williams, something that he and Tony Romo have had difficulty connecting on this season and last.

It helped the Cowboys avoid their first shutout since 2003, but there was no celebration.

"Yeah, who cares?" Williams said.

Williams did not care about his five catches for 105 yards. Nor did he give much thought to his third touchdown reception of the season. All that kept eating at him as he got dressed afterward were two plays that had a gigantic impact on the Cowboys losing to Green Bay, 17-7, Sunday at Lambeau Field.

With 4:03 left in the first half, Williams was on his way to a 41-yard reception, his second-longest of the season, when Packers cornerback Charles Woodson poked the ball loose from the wide receiver's arm.

Rookie linebacker Clay Matthews ripped the ball away from Miles Austin to give Green Bay a first down at its 31.

"All I saw was the end zone," Williams said. "I just jumped back, and I don't know if I had it loose because I was just running by, and he just hit the ball and it came out. It's a big play. And a bad play. And a bad play for us."

In the third quarter, Williams had another chance for a big play.

This time he couldn't come up with Romo's pass at all. On second-and-13 from the Dallas 43, Romo put a perfect pass between a small window in the Green Bay defense to Williams while rolling to his right.

"Lost it in the lights," Williams said. "I couldn't see it. That's why I took my visor off."

In a contest where the Cowboys picked up three first downs in their first eight snaps and could not get another one until Tashard Choice's 11-yard pickup in the third quarter, they could not afford mistakes.

Williams had two. And they came at the wrong time.

It wasn't just Williams, of course. An offense that had been in a free-flow of success during the four-game winning streak was disjointed throughout.

"We had different areas throughout the game where we all had our own things that we wanted back," Romo said.

But for Williams, they hurt more. So badly does Williams want to be the guy and make the big plays all of the time that even when he has a good statistical game – and five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown is that – something goes wrong.

Maybe Romo and Williams are starting to figure it out together. In their last two games they have combined for 10 catches and 180 yards. That is Williams' best two-game reception total since Weeks 10-11 in 2007 with Detroit. The 180 yards are the best two-game total since he had 257 yards in Weeks 4-5 in 2007.

But none of that mattered Sunday to Williams.

"I'm an accountable guy," Williams said. "I lost this game for this football team. That's how I feel."