Carmen Vitali
NFL Reporter
Caleb Williams isn’t at USC anymore.
The first-overall pick isn’t getting off to the start the Chicago Bears would have liked.
Williams isn’t getting off to the start he would like, either.
“Losing sucks,” he said after the Bears’ Week 2 loss to the Houston Texans.
The Bears are 1-1 through two games and have only scored one offensive touchdown. Chicago has just 449 yards of total offense on the season. With a new scheme, new weapons and new quarterback, things aren’t quite meshing right now in the early goings. Williams is responsible for… a lot in an offense that he clearly isn’t comfortable in yet. He’s thinking too much and isn’t playing his game.
Williams’ style of play in college was nothing short of superhuman at times. His scramble drills turned into touchdowns. Pressures and what looked like surefire sacks turned into Houdini-like escapes and 30-yard gains.
But as Williams is learning in real-time, those plays aren’t always going to work in the NFL.
He faced 36 pressures on Sunday night, which included one of the best pass-rushing tandems in the league coming after him in Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. Williams was sacked seven times.
There were miscommunications all along the offensive line, but Williams was supposed to be able to get out of them. Just look at what he was able to do in college:
Now, Williams tries to do the same thing, but against the capabilities of NFL defenses… he’s swarmed. That clip results in a sack for Houston.
Another would-be escape later on in the game ended in worse: an interception.
On a scramble drill, receivers are taught to start running with/to the quarterback, which is exactly what tight end Cole Kmet does. He’s in position to catch the ball that’s thrown by Williams, but what Williams isn’t counting on is that defensive backs are taught to do the same thing as receivers and, well, they’re good at it as pros.
By the time the ball arrives,…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/caleb-williams-usc-two-plays-show-realities-nfl
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Publish date : 2024-09-17 18:31:14
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