CB Marcus Williams ~ ~ ~

[kelly]

Notes/Quotes : Marcus Williams Steps Up

Jets Corner Handles Hot Corner After Antonio Cromartie's Injury; Bare Facts on Strip Sacks

Sunday's stage was hardly too big for Marcus Williams. After all, he started last year's final eight games and intercepted Tom Brady. Not too shabby for a rookie résumé.So it shouldn't have been surprising that Williams stepped in for the injured Antonio Cromartie in the second quarter and supplied a third-quarter pick of Johnny Manziel to set up a touchdown and two more pass breakups, one by rocking the ball loose from Andrew Hawkins' grip early in the final frame.

Which did he like more, the pick or the blast ?

"I don't know, man. They both felt pretty good," he said. "But it's always good to get turnovers because it sets up plays and scores for the offense, it adds a lot of momentum and it gets the crowd into the game as well. So the interception felt pretty good."Head coach Todd Bowles has to feel good with the depth on his bench at the position. The medical news today was good that Cromartie is week to week with a sprained knee, but Bowles was far from ready to pencil the seemingingly indestructible Cro into the starting lineup for Andrew Luck and the Colts next Monday."They told me week-to-week, but I don't know what that means. Is it this week, next week?" the coach said at today's news conference. "I'm going to wait to see how he heals. Until I see him running, I don't have a timetable on him."

In the interim, Williams provided more positive feedback for Bowles to assess. Marcus, he said, "is a good corner. For a young player, he understands the game, he sees everything, he understands what's about to happen to him on the field, and he plays with a calmness that makes you feel good about him."The Jets coaches have flexibility should they need to give Cromartie time to rehab, because as Bowles noted, Williams and Buster Skrine "both can do both," meaning play outside on the corner and inside in the slot.

Strip Stakes

The Jets finally zeroed in on Johnny Football, sacking Manziel three times in the fourth quarter. Two of those resulted in strip sacks, by Muhammad Wilkerson (recovered by Darrelle Revis), giving him 25.5 sacks for his career, and by Trevor Reilly for his first pro sack (recovered by Quinton Coples).The last time the Jets recovered two strip sacks in a game was "Win and We're In," Game 16 of the 2009 season, when safeties Jim Leonhard and James Ihedigbo stripped Bengals backup J.T. O'Sullivan and Kerry Rhodes and Jamaal Westerman recovered. There were four more two-strip games between then and Sunday but none that turned the ball over twice.

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> http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-randylangefb/NotesQuotes-Marcus-Williams-Steps-Up/e7b07491-749a-4330-9531-053bb3577f65

[Jetman55]

Love marcus williams...hoping he develops into something special and long term depth...great find last year.

[JiFtheOracle]

Williams >>>>>> Cro

[papz187]

Love the way he plays, easily one of my favorite players

Sent from my SM-N915T using Tapatalk

[kelly]

Marcus Williams reversed and fast-forwarded the video, studying every movement.

Even now, almost a week later, it still eats at him.

While everyone else focuses on his interception of Browns backup quarterback Johnny Manziel, Williams was fixated on the play he didn't make: a 20-yard completion by Cleveland's Travis Benjamin."I've been studying that play for a while now, so I can make sure it doesn't happen this week," Williams said, referencing the Jets' Monday Night Football matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.The second-year cornerback -- who sprang into action after Antonio Cromartie was carted off the field with a knee injury -- is now a highly sought-after interview subject thanks to his burgeoning role on defense. His locker stall resembles a supermarket deli counter, complete with a single-file queue of reporters intent on learning more about him.But the truth is, Williams has always made plays. He's just never been a big name."I've always felt like I was the guy that was overlooked. I don't know why," he told Newsday. "It keeps me going," added the cornerback, who received a game ball last week. "It keeps my fuel high. It makes me feel like I have to keep proving people wrong."

Williams will have another opportunity to do so -- this time, on the road against Andrew Luck, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. With Cromartie questionable and Darrin Walls (hamstring) ruled out, Williams, 24, will see more playing time, most likely at outside cornerback, as well as in the slot.And the Jets secondary will need all the help it can get covering receivers T.Y. Hilton (who's questionable with a knee injury), Andre Johnson, Donte Moncrief and speedy rookie Phillip Dorsett."I hope [Cromartie's] able to go because he's a great player and we need him," Williams said. "But if my number is called, it's no pressure at all."

Williams is the quintessential underdog and under-the-radar guy hellbent on playing big.A three-year starter as a wide receiver and defensive back at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota, he also was a two-year starter for the Royals' basketball team, which finished 31-0 as the 2008-09 Class 4A state champs. At North Dakota State, he won three national championships, was the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference football Defensive Player of the Year and also set an NDSU record with 21 career interceptions.But in 2014, he went undrafted. "Not too many big schools were looking at me, so I just had to go with what I had," he said of attending NDSU.

The Houston Texans signed him as an undrafted free agent in May 2014, but released him from their practice squad Sept. 24. The Jets immediately signed Williams to their practice squad and promoted him to the active roster a month later. And in a short time, he's managed to impress the new Jets regime.Todd Bowles, a man of few words and measured praise, raved about Williams after last week's win. "The game is not too big for him," the Jets coach said of Williams, who, as a rookie, picked off quarterback Tom Brady in the Jets' 17-16 home-loss to New England on Dec. 21. "He is not scared of anyone out there. He is not scared to be on an island. I feel like he's a six- or seven-year player. He's one of my favorite players."

Williams recalled Bowles taking him aside during the first week of training camp and complimenting him on his strong practices in OTAs. "Todd, he's a great coach. Ever since he's gotten here, I've been in his ear; just trying to learn the game, see how he views the game. Me, being a second-year guy, and the fact that he has that much trust in me, it means a lot. So I'm going to work my butt off for him every single game."

>    http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/spotlight-shines-on-marcus-williams-little-corner-1.10868897