The Simple Excellence of Miles Austin

Wide receivers, are the shiny objects of professional football. They are like “The Precious” in Lord of the Rings.

Irresistible.

Yet as often as not, it is the workmanlike wideouts who end up making the most impact. See Miles Austin. See Wes Welker.

I’ll admit my own inability to see sensibly on this matter. I once wanted the Redskins to take Peter Warrick over Chris Samuels.

Yeah. Uh.. huh. (cough).

But it’s not just me, and the rest of the couch-bound football nation. Supposedly “smart” football minds make the same mistake. Jerry Jones traded multiple picks (including a 1st rounder) and then paid a boatload to Roy Williams.

Yet Austin has been the game changer.

We’re constantly told that despite Jones’ meddling, AT LEAST HE PLAYED THE GAME! (years ago). He “knows what it’s like to be in a locker-room.”

But he’ll still over pay, over-reach, and over-hope on a bum.

Funny how last year at this time, the Cowboys had a supposedly “tough” call on whether to keep or release high maintenance primma-donna Terrell Owens.

Jones finally made the right move.

The Cowboys won the NFC East, Romo set career highs and team records in completions and yardage.

And they didn’t spend one news cycle trying to untangle whatever the hell Owens just spewed to the press about his team/catches/the playbook/quarterback/coach.

I was listening to my esteemed replacement Steven A. Smith on FSR last Friday. He had a different take. “Think how good the Cowboys would be with BOTH Austin and T.O.!!!!!” He then went on to flatly state that Owens “wuz robbed!”

Sure. Sure he was.

I think had the Cowboys stayed with Owens, they would have wasted another year trying to prop up the 35 year old’s sagging production and constant excuses.
At the expense of….well.. everybody!

The reason for Miles Austin’s excellence is simple.

He’s exactly WHERE he is supposed to be, WHEN he’s supposed to be there, catches EVERYTHING, and can run LIKE HELL!

Owens, by contrast, is seldom where he should be, usually late, drops as many as he grabs, and stopped being electric-fast about 2 years ago.

You can’t help but enjoy watching Austin play. His routes are crisp. He snatches passes out of the air like a kung-fu master grabbing a fly with chopsticks. And he’s got a 6th gear in the open field.

The Cowboys at some point will have to pay him. How much, is a tough call. If you found one undrafted Miles Austin out of a nowhere school, chances are you could find others.

Will the money change him? Will he start demanding a certain number of looks a game? I don’t know him well enough.

But I do know that wide receiver continues to be the most over-rated position in the game.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

PS: While google-image-searching, I found this one with Miles and the ladies! Niiiicceee.