DETROIT – Many Detroit Lions fans can hardly contain their excitement about young wide receiver Jameson Williams, but Dan Campbell and his staff are clearly trying to keep that hype under control.
On Sunday, Williams only played a handful of snaps in his second game back from suspension, but he made that time count, catching a 45-yard touchdown on a critical 3rd down to put the Lions up 17-6 in the third quarter.
Lions fans on social media went berserk, proclaiming that it was Williams’ coming out party. Can you blame them? They’ve been waiting a season and a half to see what the former No. 12 overall pick could bring to the offense.
But the Lions clearly want to temper those expectations.
Last week’s comments
It’s clear that Williams has great speed and endless raw potential, but right when his suspension was reduced from six to four games, the Lions got to work managing the hype and trying to ensure expectations didn’t get out of control.
“We’ve just got to see where he’s at with football,” Campbell said before last week’s game against the Carolina Panthers. “This’ll be his first week back, and so we’ll take it every day and see how he does. I think what we’ve done a really good job of in these four weeks is we know we are by committee.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, and your number will get called at a certain time, but we’re not a ‘one guy’s carrying the load.’ That’s not how we work here.”
Those comments can be interpreted in different ways by different people, but what I heard was, “Nobody who hasn’t been here is going to just jump into the rotation and take snaps away from players who have earned their spots.”
Williams had to prove himself worthy of touches, and so far, that’s what he’s done.
In his first game back, Williams got his hands dirty in the blocking game. He made a key block to spur a 42-yard David Montgomery touchdown, and then two more that helped Craig Reynolds drive down the field for a tack-on score.
He only had two catches for two yards, but Williams left his mark on the game, and I think Campbell noticed.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Campbell said. “It’s all about improvement -- no different than the rest of the team. Every week we’ve just got to get a little bit better. He’s just got to get a little bit better, and we’ll go from there.”
Sunday’s touchdown catch
Williams was only targeted three times during Sunday’s win in Tampa Bay, but it’s worth noting that all three targets came on the most important drive of the game, after the Buccaneers had kicked a field goal to pull within four points.
He had one drop on a bit of a short throw from Jared Goff, but the other two catches went for a total of 53 yards.
And that touchdown... whew. It was a beauty. Even Campbell couldn’t downplay it.
“I thought he did a great job turning on the gas, getting to the back pylon,” Campbell said. “I love that Goff let it go. He saw it, he trusted it, and ripped it. (Williams) did a good job tracking that ball and making a huge play. I think that’s going to help his confidence.”
He didn’t say, “Williams is going to be a star,” or even, “This is a sign of what’s to come.” But it was the first direct praise I’ve heard.
Williams, for his part, said all the right things after the game. When the Lions’ social media team showed him a replay of his catch, he said, “Good pass from my boy Goff. Lions 5-1, let’s do it man.”
Campbell continues to manage expectations
After Campbell talked about Williams’ catch on Monday, a reporter asked a follow-up question, and he went right back to managing expectations.
“That’s step one,” Campbell said. “That’s our first significant deep shot that we’ve hit with him this year, and so that’s one. Then we just continue to -- look, it’s no different than any other player or any team in a season.”
There it is again: “No different than any other player.” Sounds a lot like “no different than the rest of the team,” doesn’t it?
That’s the point the Lions are trying to hammer home. I don’t think this is anything against Williams -- they’re trying to protect him from the (potentially unrealistic) expectations that come with being such a high draft pick while also preserving the team-first mentality that’s been established in the locker room.
Williams missed almost his entire rookie year, a good portion of the preseason, and the first quarter of this season. That’s valuable time for development, so it’s going to take awhile for him to fully assimilate into the offense.
“We just need to (be) slow and steady and continue to improve,” Campbell said. “That’s step one. That’ll help his confidence, and we’ll go from there. I was happy for him.”
