Roy "Thong" Williams

Caught the first episode of the HBO "Hard Knocks - Training Camp With the Cincinnati Bengals" last night.

If you're haven't seen it, don't bother - it was boring as all hell. Even Ocho Cinco was lame.

There was a scene where they showed a defensive back trash talking Ocho Cinco before a inter-squad scrimmage, it was so contrived and uncomfortable - the guy must of practiced it in front of a mirror for 5 hours this week; and still somehow manage to deliver it like a fifth grader in his first play.

But what did interest me was that it showed two former Cowboys that, Mike Zimmer (former and now) Bengal's defensive coordinator, picked up from the Cowboys' trash heap - Roy Williams and Tank Johnson.

Tank was seen asking a child (not sure if it was his son) entering 4th grade, if he would "fight back if he was 4 and 12" (in reference to coach marvin Lewis' call for the team to fight back after a disasterous 2008). The kid answered no, and Tank playfully said they will have to talk this over during dinner. The kid pretty much had the "you're an idiot - what the hell are you talking about" attitude the whole time.

Probably not very smart if Tank is your dad; or worse - not your dad and he owns a bunch of fire arms.

But that was not the worst showing of the two former Cowboys.

The worse was Roy Williams. He was in several scenes, some reprising his jovial happy veteran role from last year's Cowboys edition of Hard Knocks. In others, he was just getting his ass handed to him.

Yahoo's Shut Down Corner article nailed it:

"I'd imagine Roy Williams is a little embarrassed this morning about his showing. He lined up against Maurice Purify in the Oklahoma drill (one running back, and one blocker going one-on-one with a defender in a confined space), and things did not work out well for Roy. Purify erased him. With his propensity to get beat deep, and his inability to even put up a fight against a rookie wide receiver blocking him, I'm having trouble figuring out what it is that Roy Williams does well."

"Erased him" might even been a little too kind. Annihilated or mauled might be more accurate. Yeah sure, one can say that Purify is an undrafted rookie, giving his all and then some to trying to catch on. But come on Roy - a guy who is trying to resurrect his once great career - coming to a new team trying to earn the respect of his new teammates, this is not how you go about it.

Roy showed absolutely zero effort against Purify - he was just a talking blocking sled during the drill. Got owned in the first part of the segment when the voice over was still explaining what an "Oklahoma Drill" was, and got absolutely destroyed by the rookie at the end of the segment. I mean, it was so bad that you kind of feel embarrassed for him.

I have read accounts from several sources that Roy Williams' problem is that he seemed to have lost his passion for football, or more accurately, his passion for playing football well. It was never more evident than in this episode of Hard Knocks (other than the times he missed tackles, blown coverages in the last two years for the Cowboys - but I digress).

Again, for a guy who once was one of the most feared, hard hitting safety in the league, now seen walking around joking and goofing off and plotting with teammates to not go at each other as hard in contact drills. Way to earn respect Roy.

After seeing this, I am ecstatic that the Cowboys dumped him (now it seems like a no brainer). I suspect Roy has retired 3 years ago, he just never bothered to tell his employer(s). If I was coach Lewis, Roy would be on the first bus out of town this morning, just to make an example out of him.

Of course I can't talk about old Roy without posting a picture of ladies in thongs.