Cowboys Giving Bates a Chance to Cut Loose

Dallas strong safety Bill Bates knows only one course: collision course. The way he sees it, “I’m like a rattlesnake. I bite the first thing that moves.” Teammates simply call him Norman Bates, saying he’s a psycho on the field.

Bates initially made his name as a special teams hit man. His roguish ways put him in the Pro Bowl two years ago in the first year the National Football League added the role of that specialist. If a kick returner veered Bates’ way, the Cowboys said, he’d check into the Bates Motel, arriving at the front desk in the horizontal or prone position. Express Check-in, so to speak.

As Carl Battershell, the Detroit special teams coach, recently said, “Bates is like a vampire. You have to stick a stake in his heart. When he is covering (kicks), you’ve got to have one of your best athletes on him. If you don’t, he’ll make the play.”

However, Bates’ four-year career has moved into a new stage. When Dallas starting strong safety Dextor Clinkscale became a contract holdout this season (the Cowboys say he’ll never play for them again), Bates assumed his starting spot. Now Bates, 25, mixes with opposing tight ends, rates third on the team’s tackle chart (precisely where Clinkscale finished last year) and waits for the green light to blitz the way kids wait for Christmas.

“I’m kind of dejected,” Bates said, “when they give us a (defensive) set that calls off a blitz.”

Now that he’s the starting strong safety, Bates’ role on Dallas’ special teams has been reduced. This doesn’t keep the former free agent from the University of Tennessee from badgering specialty teams coach Alan Lowry to let him play on more of the teams.

You have to know Bates’ kamikaze, won’t-be-denied style of play to realize that Dallas Vice President Gil Brandt is not rapping his man when he says, “If there’s one problem with Bill Bates, it’s that he plays too hard.”

Bates has never been one to think before acting, which is exactly what the Dallas defense demands from its members. Bates is from the “Pop ‘em, drop ‘em” school of thought.

To wit: the Denver Broncos were driving quickly over the final two minutes of the first half Sunday in Denver. Quarterback John Elway connected with receiver Clint Sampson near the Denver sideline for a 20-yard gain, to the Dallas 25. Just after Sampson crossed out of bounds, Bates cracked him hard and was assessed a 13-yard late-hit penalty. The Broncos then drove in for the touchdown and went on to win, 29-14.

“Sometimes, I know I have to step back and be a little more poised,” said Bates, who is 6-1 and 199 pounds. “There’s a lot more trickery and deception in offenses. That’s harder for me. Special teams is just ‘go for it.’

“On one of our defenses, Coach (Tom) Landry has 3 or 4 guys go to the ball and the other 7 or 8 play the area and then go to the ball at a certain angle. It’s not like a swarming zone defense. I have to remember to be patient.”

Cornerback Everson Walls recalled that in one practice earlier this season, “Coach Landry tried to have us play a defense that Dextor had played well last year with poise and patience. But Bill just crashed through the line. That’s not the way you’re supposed to do it.

“Bill got upset with the (scout team offensive) players for not giving the right picture on the play. Coach Landry got upset with Bill for trying to kill the tight end. We all thought it was funny, but it took Bill about 30 minutes to finally calm down.”

In Dallas’ 31-28 victory over the New York Giants in the season opener, Giants’ tight end Mark Bavaro largely was matched up with Bates and managed 7 catches for 88 yards. Moving into the starting strong safety role has “been pretty rough on (Bates),” Walls said.

“It takes time to learn things. It’s been fortunate that no team has really tried to exploit him yet,” Walls said. “Teams have tried to work the outside receivers. No team has tried to work the tight ends.”

Bates said he spent the off-season covering wide receivers, working on his speed. Now he must contend with bigger, taller tight ends.

“You can have a tight end covered like a glove,” Bates said, “but a big guy like that can wall you off, like Washington does with (6-5 H-back Clint) Didier, and they can throw it so high that you can’t get your hands on it no matter how high you jump.”

Brandt said of Bates, “Sometimes he won’t make a play because he doesn’t have the speed, but by the same token, sometimes he’ll make a play others wouldn’t make because he is such a competitor.” Bates has been playing with a broken finger that, held together by metal screws and wrapped thick as a boxing glove, has caused him to drop several possible interceptions.

Bates also sprained an ankle against Denver. Such injuries are a product of his demolition-derby style of play.