Williams Sounds Off On Patriots, Joint Practices


Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Cary Williams is not a fan of the Patriots. And he’s definitely not a fan of practicing with the Patriots.

He grew a distaste for them while playing for the Ravens from 2009-12, and felt like some members of the team were disrespectful during the joint practices held here at the NovaCare last summer. He decided to send them a message by quickly getting into a scrap with receiver Aaron Dobson. Both players were forced to sit out the rest of the session.

So he doesn’t like them, and that has a lot to do with why he is against the idea of practicing with them again later this month in New England. But it’s not the only reason.

“If you’re a smart coach, you understand that there’s going to be certain signals that are going to be used out there on that practice field. You don’t want to give any team — I don’t care if it’s the Patriots or the dang Bengals — you don’t want to give them an opportunity to look at your stuff. That’s just me. I don’t want to show none of our cards. To me it’s not benefitting us because they have already proven who they are. That’s the history,” said Williams, referencing the Spygate scandal.

“I’m trying to go into details about it or disrespect that organization…you still have to go out and play the game. I give them all the credit in the world. But one fact still remains: they haven’t won a Super Bowl since they got caught.

“They are cheaters. They are. You got caught. I know you’re going to be looking at the film when we go out there. That’s just that. I don’t want to show them my cards. That’s just me.”

Williams also says practicing with another team during camp takes away an element of mystery that he enjoys. He explained that going up against your own guys builds an “itch” to go hit other players, and that the itch is scratched during practice instead of the game when working with another team.

He doesn’t like the idea on a number of fronts but is on board with whatever Chip Kelly wants to do.

“I’m employee 26. I’m here. Whatever coach says, goes and that’s that. It’s not my job to be a coach, it’s not my job to be a player coach, I’m a player. It’s my job to go out and compete against whoever is in front of me,” he said.

Joint practices run from August 12-14 in Foxboro. Should be interesting.