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It appears our Cadillac is the real deal, folks

By GARY SHELTON
Published September 26, 2005

GREEN BAY, Wis - History was his now. As for greatness, Cadillac Williams says, it still belongs to other men.

After 158 yards, perhaps you would expect him to look tired. After 37 carries, perhaps you would expect him to look sore.

He looked neither. As Williams knotted an orange-and-blue tie on a blue-on-blue shirt with French cuffs, he still looked as if he had a few carries in him. He looked fresh. He sounded eager. If overtime had broken out, he looked ready.

The famous names rolled off of his tongue, as smooth and easy as the way the men used to run. Five famous backs? That was the easiest request of Williams all afternoon.

"You've got Barry Sanders," Williams said, counting on his fingers and grinning. "You've got Walter Payton. You've got Emmitt Smith. You've got Jim Brown. And you've got Eric Dickerson."

And here's the deal. None of those guys ever accomplished what Williams did Sunday. None of them came particularly close.

It is official now. No running back ever has hit the NFL with the force Williams has. He has the best start, as they say, in the history of history.

Against Green Bay, Williams became the first back in league history to gain 100 yards in his first three games. With 434 yards, he also broke Alan Ameche's record (of 410) for most yardage by a back over his first three games.

It is the most primitive of football tasks, for a man to take a football and try to run as far as he can before he is knocked to the ground with as much punishment by as many players as possible.

Three games in, and no one has done it as well as Williams.

Three games in, and what we have ourselves is a star.

He has speed. He has strength. He has quickness and vision and drive and charisma and toughness and power. Also, and you should know this, too, he has perspective. Records, it appear, do not weigh heavily upon him.

"What hits me is that (the backs he named) had great careers," Williams said. "It's still early. It's just three games. I'm looking at what my career will be like in five or six years. Am I going to stay in the same class as those guys? It's still early. You can't get caught up in (the records)."

Oh, the records are nice, interesting little nuggets. And it does say something impressive when a back does what thousands of others have not done in thousands of other games.

Still, records do not truly capture the most impressive part of Cadillac Williams. They only partially reflect the relentlessness, the durability, the standards the kid has shown three strides into his career.

For instance, consider Williams' situation early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game.

At the time, Williams seemed on his way to a perfectly ordinary day. He had only 75 yards on 25 carries, and 16 of those were for two yards or less. His left foot ached and the grass was wet. The opponent was tougher and the holes were smaller. The stadium was daunting and history was against him. (Eight others started their careers with two 100-yard days; all failed in Week 3). It did not look like a particularly memorable day.

But Williams has the look of a late-in-the-day back, as a runner who will grunt and grind and surprise you with his totals.

On the Bucs' final three series, Williams took over the game. He gained 83 yards on his final 12 carries, including runs of 26 and 24 yards. It was as if his first 25 carries were just to warm up, and now it was crunch time and it was Williams who was going to do the crunching.

There is such a thing as players who rise to the big moments. Baseball teams keep averages for hitters after the seventh inning and for pitchers after 100 pitches. Sports is about endurance, about durability, about closing out the other team.

So far, Williams looks a lot like Mariano Rivera.

"I love it," Williams said. "As a team, we feel like the fourth quarter belongs to our team. As a player, I feel like the fourth quarter is my quarter. When we're trying to run out the clock and we need a big play, I'm there."

Consider this: Of Williams' 434 yards, he has 190 of them, almost 44 percent, in the fourth quarter.

Oh, the possibilities. Williams is on pace to break 1,000 yards in Week 7. Also, he is on pace for 2,315 yards. Also, he is on pace for 469 attempts. The alternatives are clear: Either Williams is going to keep leaving people in the dust or the Bucs are going to grind him into it.

"People wonder if we're going to wear him out," coach Jon Gruden said. "If you don't try to wear this guy out, you are never going to find out how great he can be. That's the way it is with big backs.

"The look in his eye is going to give this offense a chance every Sunday. I believe that."

So far, the Bucs love the kid, and they should. There is a joy to the way he plays, a hunger. Williams seems to want greatness, and he seems to understand how it is defined.

As for the Bucs, it would be better if there were alternatives. Much of Sunday looked as if the Bucs had very little idea of what to do when the other team had Williams in check.

Eventually, there will be afternoons when Williams is only pretty good. The Bucs have to find other ways to beat a team. They couldn't Sunday. Brian Griese was sharp, early, but he struggled in the second half, throwing an interception and being saved from a fumble only by a botched call. Eventually, this team will need more from Griese, from Michael Clayton, from Joey Galloway. Eventually, it might want to throw a time or two to Williams, too.

For now, Williams has turned on the lights. It feels as if it is the start of a spectacular career.

Worth remembering: After three games, no back has ever been better than Williams.

Also worth nothing: After three games, no team has ever had a better record than the Bucs.

[Last modified September 26, 2005, 04:50:57]