DETROIT – Jared Goff took some time to break down his touchdown pass to Jameson Williams, which sealed the Detroit Lions’ win over the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay had kicked its second field goal of the game to cut the Lions’ lead to 10-6 with 7:44 remaining in the third quarter. Detroit drove into Buccaneers territory on the following possession, but a pair of drops -- one by Williams and another by Sam LaPorta -- set up 3rd and 10 from the 45-yard line.
Goff took the next snap, dropped back, and launched a pass toward the end zone. Williams had a few steps on his defender, but came back to the ball and made the catch going to the ground.
“It was a great catch by him,” Goff said. “Probably not a great throw, but a great catch. That’s what’s good, when as a quarterback you can miss a throw a little bit and a guy’s able to make a play like that for a touchdown. It doesn’t get much better.”
Sunday was just Williams’ second game back from suspension. After catching two passes for 2 yards against the Panthers, he made two grabs for 53 yards and a score in Tampa Bay.
“Pretty simple concept there,” Goff said. “He was the top shelf of it, and the corner kind of bit the sale to (St. Brown), and nobody was there. I throw a little bit better ball, it might look a little bit better, but he made a great play.”
The Lions have worked hard to temper expectations for Williams, who missed 11 games as a rookie due to injury and the first four games of this season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.
But Williams is slowly starting to work his way into the offensive game plan. Goff said this was one of the 22-year-old’s best weeks of practice.
“It’s continually getting better, and he’s continually working hard on everything, and when he does it right, it’s hard to find someone that can do it better,” Goff said. “It’s just a matter of getting on the same page and feeling confident with everything, but he’s working hard and it’s fun to get him involved like that, to put some credibility to the work he’s done.”
