For many people, it takes a great deal of self-confidence to get up in front of a crowd and sing. Trey Williams thrives on such opportunities. There are videos of his performances all over the internet.
So, it's not surprising that although he's only listed at 5-7, and he might not even be that tall, Williams talks like a player much bigger than that.
"My singing skills? I'm probably the best in this locker room," he laughed.
The rookie running back, claimed off waivers from Dallas this week, arrived in Foxborough around 11 a.m. Wednesday – too late to make an appearance at practice until today. Yet, even before taking the field for the first time as a Patriot, Williams, who started the season with the Washington Redskins, sounded confident that he'll be in New England for a while.
"I don't know what [the coaches] have up their sleeve, but I'm pretty excited," he told a large group of reporters and photographers. He described his hopes as "high…very high."
"I can help contribute and help this team win a Super Bowl…. I'm expecting to do a lot. My head is just in the playbook. I slept with the playbook, with my face in it. I have to learn everything first.
"I'm learning the routes out of the backfield. I'm just learning everything right now, getting accustomed to everything. It's my second day, so I'm pretty excited. I'm excited to get on that field and show them what I can do. I'm slowly getting there, but I'll be there for sure. I know for a fact I'll stick. I'm just slowly adjusting to it."
As self-assured as the Houston native sounded on Thursday, he admitted he was anything but confident when he was let go by Dallas.
"No. As a matter of fact, I didn't think I was going to get released by the Cowboys," Williams continued, "but when that happened, I didn't know what was going to happen."
Diminutive in stature, Williams insists he's tall on talent and is looking to compensate for the loss of Dion Lewis in the Patriots' backfield.
"I'm a versatile kind of back. I do kick returns, a little bit of slot, scat back. That's just my style. I feel like I bring a lot to the team, and I can help fill in for the guys that —pretty much what they need."
Though far from his hometown, Williams revealed that he has one very strong connection to it in the Patriots locker room. His high school coach was Willie Amendola, father of wide receiver Danny. Four years ago, Williams won a Texas state championship under Amendola's leadership at Dekaney high School, and that's where he first met his now-teammate, Danny.
LaFell is all in
Wide receiver Brandon LaFell is one of the friendliest and most candid players in the Patriots locker room, and Thursday, he offered an interesting perspective on the inner workings of New England's coaching staff.
When it was pointed out by a reporter that this week's opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, have surrendered 10 touchdown passes in their past two games, LaFell quickly countered, "You've got to block it out of your mind. Any given week in the NFL, any team can beat you. No matter how bad a team is playing, they always come in and give us their best game.
"The crazy thing about it, we haven't seen any of those touchdown passes on film. We're seeing them causing turnovers, all these guys making plays. We haven't seen all the touchdown passes they've been giving up. We're just seeing all the takeaways."
This is how it is every week, LaFell revealed, with Bill Belichick and his assistants.
"He'll show us how to get open, but for the most part he has us focusing on taking care of the ball, blocking their front four, beating man-to-man coverage, and finding ways to make plays," added LaFell.
"It feels like every team we play against, it's like we're facing the best defensive line we can face, the best secondary. Every time we watch film against a team, I feel like they're undefeated, because we never see none of their bad plays, we only see the positive things they do. I guess he has us going out there and make sure we respect our opponent. Make sure we study.
"He does a great job every week, because I'm telling you, every week I'll be like, 'This might be the best defense we face.' He does a great job and keeps us on our toes with all the questions he asks."
'A friendly bet'
Tom Brady, a famous University of Michigan grad, turned heads in the locker room today when he came strolling through in an arch-rival Ohio State t-shirt. It wasn't by choice, obviously.
Brady lost a bet with the only Buckeye in the Patriots locker room, safety and special teams ace Nate Ebner. Brady's Wolverines got their doors blown off by Ebner's Ohio State squad 42-13 over Thanksgiving Weekend.
Ebner told reporters that he and Brady came up with the idea to "do something fun" while talking about the upcoming game in the locker room recently.
"It worked out for me," Ebner grinned. "It wouldn't have mattered to me if I had to wear a [Michigan] shirt or something. It was just a friendly bet."
