New York Jets Film Room: Marcus Williams Gets Physical with the Gronk

Dec 21, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New England Patriots tight end

Rob Gronkowski

(87) runs against New York Jets cornerback

Marcus Williams

(22) in the second half during the game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Merry Christmas Jets fans, near and far.

Time to go inside the film room and take a look at Marcus Williams, cornerback that showed some potential on Sunday as a player that could be part of the mix in 2015.

This past Sunday against the New England Patriots, Marcus Williams played a huge game. In addition to recording an interception off of a deflection, Williams was credited with three passes defended. This morning we are going to take a look at one of those passes, and I am going to show you why he has some potential.

This one was against a guy we love to hate, Rob Gronkowski. Marcus Williams got physical with the “Gronk”, and it was a pleasure to watch. Let me show you what I mean.

Rob Gronkowski is lined up wide to the left, with Marcus Williams set to guard him one on one, as indicated in the circle. Williams is 5’11”, Gronkowski lists at 6’6″. This sounds like quite the one-sided matchup in Tom Brady‘s favor, does it not? If you were the quarterback, wouldn’t you see that as a mismatch? I would.

But he didn’t bargain for the physicality of Marcus Williams. Look at the tight coverage. Williams is right on the line of scrimmage. Gronkowski is going to try and run an in cut, as indicated by the arrow. Let’s move ahead.

Kudos to Marcus Williams here. Take a look in the circle. Williams gets his hands on the Gronk within two yards. This is not only well within the rules, but the essential way to play man-to-man coverage in the pros. Press coverage must be played, and that goes double when you go against a guy like Gronk, that has several inches on you. Williams gets his hands on Gronkowski and engages him, and it makes a difference.

They are now five yards down the field, so Williams has to let Gronkowski go. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t stay right with the big guy. Williams has a hand on Gronk, but isn’t a penalty because he is not stopping him from running his route. What he IS doing, is sticking with Gronk stride for side. See? Williams is making up for his lack of size with increased physicality.

Williams gets his hands on the pass, and Tom Brady adds an incomplete pass to his box score.