The Detroit Lions got wide receiver Jameson Williams going with 100 receiving yards in their 44-22 victory over the Washington Commanders on Sunday – in the third quarter.
In the Lions’ first eight games this season, Williams had 21 receptions for 355 yards and three touchdowns, off the pace of his 2024 contributions, when the former Alabama All-American collected 58 receptions for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games.
After Williams had a 14-yard reception in the first half against Washington, Detroit threw to the wide receiver on three of its first five second-half snaps. The passes gained 22, 11 and 14 yards with the last ending in the end zone as the Lions went ahead 32-10.
Before the third quarter closed, Williams added receptions that gained 41 and 17 yards as he posted five receptions for 105 yards and one touchdown in the period.
“I thought Jamo showed up, man,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “… Listen, he’s been doing a great job. I mean, he’s been busting his rear. He does every day. He comes to work. I mean, he grinds on it, man. He’s been unbelievable. And we just hadn’t, you know, we just hadn’t connected.
“And so, today, man, we got him going, you know, (quarterback Jared) Goff got him going and made some throws. And he made some big-time plays, man. And so it was just good to see, man. Confidence was up, and he’s ripping and roaring and he’s very much a part of our guys.”
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Campbell might have said: I got him going. The Detroit head coach took out his reading glasses and called the plays for the Lions offense instead of offensive coordinator John Morton.
“It was just ‘Let’s try something a little different,’ right?” Campbell said. “And look, I know what I want to do. I know how I want to do it. Now, that being said, this is a collaborative effort. I mean, I was taking in input from John Morton that whole time and the other coaches. …
“But I just wanted to change it up a little bit. You know, let’s just see if maybe a different play-caller can maybe get us a little rhythm. That’s all. And it honestly is nothing more than that. I know you’re probably going to want to ask questions about, ‘Well, what about this?’ or ‘I heard this.’ It’s not that. It’s this was a change. We made a change. It was good for today.”
After losing to the Minnesota Vikings 27-24 in their previous game, the Lions were ready to produce no matter who called the plays, Williams said.
“Shout out to Dan and how he controlled the game,” Williams said, “but, you know, I think we went out there with a chip on our shoulder and just with a chip to execute coming off the loss last week. And, you know, shout out to the players. I think (running back) Jahmyr (Gibbs) had three touchdowns. Everybody got the ball in their hands, so when you spread the ball around a lot like that, it’s easy to score a lot of points, especially with the playmakers we got at every position.”
Of Williams’ six receptions, the game book describes five as “short” passes.
“I think it was effective going in with the game plan and how they tried to play us,” Williams said. “It was a lot of man and match coverage, so us getting open and running away from DBs, it’s like a part of the game plan, so you got to perfect that, especially when you get man and they trying to play back hip, just snatch off and it’ll be there.”
The Lions play the Philadelphia Eagles at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. NBC will televise the game.
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