“He’s really grown and he continues to grow and get better,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday of the confidence he has in Williams to step up and play a big role. “He’s fearless. His fundamentals for the speed and quickness he has and the ability for him to drop his weight now and there’s really some detail to his route. He’s become a hard cover.
“Then you see the run after the catch ability. His confidence is growing. Our confidence is growing. He’s doing well. You should have seen him running (Monday). This guy works now. He works in practice every day and love where he’s at.”
There was one play from last week’s contest Williams said he wanted back, and that was the 4th & 3 play in the fourth quarter as the Lions were trying to mount a comeback. Quarterback Jared Goff threw the ball a little behind Williams on a crossing route and it bounced off Williams’ hands incomplete.
Immediately after the game, Goff held himself accountable for the ball placement on the throw to Williams, but Williams offered a different perspective talking to reporters this week, saying if the ball hits his hands, no matter the location, he must catch it.
“It’s a drop. That’s why I really did all that after the play,” Williams said. “No matter where the ball is at, as a receiver you got to make plays, and the blame don’t go on the quarterback. It goes on us, and that’s not even putting it down on my quarterback. I’m not even saying that. I’m saying it’s my fault because I dropped the ball.
“He gave me the opportunity. I just got to make the best of the opportunity and move the sticks for us. I move the sticks right there — it could be a whole different game changer for us. It was a big play to me. No matter what happened in the game before that, you just got to look at the play right now, and I just got to make the best of that play and bring that one in for us, man.”
Detroit will host the Cowboys in a Week 14 matchup Thursday night that carries significant playoff implications with the Lions (7-5) and Cowboys (6-5-1) holding on to the eighth and ninth spots, respectively, in the NFC playoff picture.
Williams said there’s more urgency to stack some wins together with the calendar flipping to December and the stretch run for the playoff hunt upon us.
“We’ve got more urgency to win these last games,” He said. “Win out, do our job and get in the playoffs and do our thing.”
