D.J. Williams’ Twitter picture of Broncos playbook causes a stir

By now you’re all familiar with the story. D.J. Williams went to Twitter early Friday and posted a picture of the Denver Broncos playbook, now iPad-driven, joking about how he’s still old-school and wants to use pencil and paper. Next to his iPad are a stack of notecards and a pencil. Very funny.

The problem is that the picture he took also included diagrams of six Broncos plays (well, not exactly “plays”… we’ll get to that).

Obviously this wasn’t the smartest move on D.J.’s part. One of the very benefits of the Broncos’ move to iPad playbooks was increased security, and Tweeting a picture of the playbook in-action to his 10,000 followers isn’t exactly demonstrating mastery in subterfuge. Still, without going overboard (some fans say the Broncos should cut or trade him immediately… um, no), here are the mind-bending things we learned from D.J.’s little escapade:

1. The Broncos have a play on their defense where the Sam linebacker rushes the backfield!
2. People do not understand the difference between “plays” and “a play.” This is one play, “SINK SAM 1 TITE,” featuring a 4-3 under front formation. All the diagrams show is how the defense will adjust to pre-snap changes by the offense. Such as this: When the Z receiver motions, the opposing cornerback will follow!
3. D.J. doesn’t know how to use notecards. It helps to take the wrapping off first.

Kidding aside, here are a few things we actually did learn:

1. Williams may be switching positions. Alongside the original Instagram photo (now deleted), he said, “Coach wants me to learn a new position…” It’s not clear whether that’s just for this play or in general.
2. Williams has no idea how to use social media. If D.J. Williams is not tweeting pictures of his “DymeLife” (read: night life — his Twitter profile picture is of him looking up a girl’s skirt), he’s just tweeting to other athletes and friends. Yet his verified Twitter account has over 10,000 followers. He needs to do more to engage his audience (and a lot less to disengage it) if he’s going to have that type of follower number. Otherwise he should just drop this account altogether, start anew, and go private.