Jameson Williams – Page 3

Lions Jameson Williams, Jared Goff get back to work after missing on 6 of 8 targets

Jameson Williams’ maturity showed on Monday and Wednesday after an off day in the win over Cleveland on Sunday. He was targeted eight times and made just two catches for 40 yards. Certainly not a typical outing for the fourth-year wide receiver.

“I think that was probably the biggest growth we saw when he came in on Monday. You have to come in ready to be coached, and especially when you have a room where the coach is going to be direct, is going to hit the point, but also going to make sure we know the standard is set,’’ wide receivers/assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery said on Wednesday. “And we don’t walk past the standard because the moment you walk past the standard then it’s dropped and that’s the new standard. He understands that part of it.’’

Montgomery said Wiliams was focused on the details in Wednesday morning’s walk-through which would carry over into practice.

Coach Dan Campbell and Montgomery both mentioned that the Lions had one less practice day last week due to playing on Monday and back on Sunday. They didn’t want to use it as an excuse but it played a role in the connection issue.

Neither seems too concerned that it will be a lingering problem because they know Williams and Goff will work on it.

“There’s things I chalk it up to. We have to clean up some things. You can’t act like nothing happened,’’ Montgomery said. “You have to go out and see what the problem was, the issue was. There’s some things we’ll practice a little differently.’’

Goff said it was not a communication problem between him and Williams especially on the deep ball when Williams tried to turn around to catch it.

“I think I missed it a little bit outside. And I think if he was able to come up with that, it would have been him kind of saving my ass to some extent making that play,’’ Goff said. “And it’s one I know he would love to make, and I love him to make, and he can make that catch. It’s a hard catch, though, it’s a really hard catch. But yeah, I think it’s more so me putting the ball where I want to a little bit more inside on him, making that catch a little bit easier and I’m sure he can come up with it.”

Campbell and Montgomery are on the same page. Campbell said it’s just a few things here and there.

“Eyes back a little sooner, Goff just misses on one, he kind of gets hit on one when he’s trying to release the ball. We’re just a little bit off, and I go back to this, we go back to the drawing board,’’ Campbell said.

In the first three games Williams was targeted a dozen times and caught 8 for a total of 176 yards and a touchdown.

After a bit of a rough start in his career, he has trended upward each season.

“When I first got here I don’t know if Monday that would have been possible or today that would have been possible because it would’ve been more about ‘Did I perform at the level I wanted to perform at?’ Now it’s gotten to the point where he’s ‘OK, did I perform at the level I want to perform at? OK, why not and how do I get it fixed.’

“That’s the maturation process that we hoped and we saw. It’s also good to have people in your room to pull you along – whether it’s (David Montgomery) or (Amon-Ra St. Brown) – to pull you along and let you know everybody’s had those,’’ Scottie Montgomery said. “It’s very similar to a back putting the ball on the ground and having to come back after putting the ball on the ground. It’s the growth that happens between the time that you put the ball on the ground and when you go back in.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (3-1) at Cincinnati Bengals (2-2), 4:25 p.m. on Sunday.

Five reasons the Lions topped the Browns for third straight win

The Detroit Lions could have had all the excuses in their pocket – short work week after a Monday night game, coming off a huge win in Baltimore, playing against the NFL’s top defense in the Browns. It was all there. But, if you haven’t noticed, this team is wired differently.

It certainly showed in the 34-10 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at Ford Field. It marked the Lions third straight win.

“We knew going into this game our defense was going to need to set the tone and special teams. Offensively we’d be smart, find our spots and, for the most part, that’s the way the day went,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “Those three takeaways, (Kalif Raymond) on the punt return (TD) and offensively we were able to turn those three takeaways into 17 points which is huge.’’

Aidan Hutchinson sacked QB Joe Flacco twice, Flacco was intercepted twice and the Browns lost a fumble.

Take away the punt return touchdown and the Lions’ offense scored 27 points against a tough defense, but they had too many penalties and missed opportunities.

“We can be so much better certainly offensively —defense played outstanding. That is a good defense. They present a lot of problems,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. But he admitted many little things could have been better and pointed the finger at himself on many of them including the two false start penalties.

While Detroit’s defense allowed a touchdown on the Browns’ opening drive, they held them to just a field goal for the remainder of the game.

Five of the reasons the Lions won:

ONE: The Browns’ top-rated rushing defense had not faced a team with a running game like Detroit’s which finished with 109 rushing yards. The longest run the Browns had allowed in the first three games was 11 yards. Jahmyr Gibbs gashed them for a 24-yard scamper early in the second quarter and a 22-yarder late in the third. Gibbs finished with 15 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown, along with 2 catches for six yards. David Montgomery had nine carries for 12 yards.

TWO: Jared Goff was solid under pressure except for his one interception – an underthrown pass intended for Jameson Williams. Goff took the blame for that, saying he made a bad decision. He targeted Williams eight times but they could not connect until there was 11:10 left when Wiliams caught a 27-yard pass on a third-and-9 play. Williams finished with two catches for 40 yards. Once again – you may have heard this before – WR Amon-Ra St. Brown came up big on the biggest plays including a 2-yard receiving touchdown where he was wide open in the end zone and late in the game a 8-yard touchdown catch. He has six touchdowns in the last three games.

THREE: The Lions offensive line stood up against Myles Garrett and Cleveland’s defensive line. Goff was not sacked at all. He was hurried and pressured which may explain why it wasn’t his best game statistically. But he made enough plays when needed. Goff finished 16 of 27, 168 yards, 2 TDs and one interception. Goff said they had a plan facing Garrett and credited tackles Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell, along with the whole line, for doing the dirty work to protect him.

FOUR: Flacco was intercepted twice with D.J. Reed and Kerby Joseph ah coming up with the big plays. He was pressured often and sacked three times – two of them by Aidan Hutchinson who has had sacks in three straight games. “Just another big performance by him today. What everybody sees – the quarterback hits, the sacks, the takeaways, all big things that are right in front of your face,’’ Campbell said. “The guy plays the run too. He can do all of that stuff that gets you all the glory but he does all the dirty work. He plays with his hair on fire, he doesn’t take plays off, he’s relentless, he’s aggressive, he’s violent, he’s smart, he’s disciplined. It’s good to see him back playing at a high level. It’s good to have him back period.’’

FIVE: Detroit’s special teams came up big, highlighted by Kalif Raymond’s 65-yard punt return for a touchdown to give them a 27-10 cushion early in the fourth. “He’s amazing. He’s one of those heartbeat guys for us,’’ Goff said. Campbell echoed Goff’s praise. “I don’t know if I can say enough great things about Lif. He’s such a stud,’’ Campbell said. “…He was aggressive, he trusted our guys. He was fearless the whole game.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (3-1) at Cincinnati Bengals , 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5.

Five reasons the Lions bounced back and routed the Bears, 52-21

DETROIT — For the Detroit Lions, the train might have nearly gone off the track a week ago in Green Bay, but the boys were back on Sunday in a 52-21 rout of the Chicago Bears at Ford Field

“I’ve said this all along, this train keeps rolling and it’s always going to start with the players,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “We have players, we have playmakers, and they’re made the right way. They’re the right kind of guys. They know how to get in the ditch and just start digging. They don’t worry about the other stuff.’’

The fact they were facing former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now the Bears head coach, did not play a huge role in their turn-around. Moreso it was just motivation to win a division game.

Both offensive and defensive lines stepped up their games.

“I knew we would play better because our guys came into work and we knew what we needed to clean up and we worked at cleaning it up,’’ Campbell said. “They had the right look and they came out fighting – that’s what they do.”

The Lions came out and scored the first touchdown on a 5-play, 60-yard drive ending with a Jahmyr Gibbs 6-yard touchdown run.

They were up 28-14 at the half and held the Bears to just one touchdown in the second half. The Lions moved to 1-1 while the Bears dropped to 0-2.

Five of the reasons the Lions won:

ONE: Jared Goff pitched a near-perfect game, passing for five touchdowns and completing 23 of 28 passes for 334 yards. He got plenty of help from WR Amon-Ra St. Brown who caught nine balls for three touchdowns and 115 yards. “He’s a stud. He’s as good as they get in our league, he’s a stud, he does everything in the run game, everything in the pass game,’’ Goff said. “As reliable of a player as I’ve ever thrown to in my life. We have a pretty good chemistry going on in our fifth year. We push each other really hard.’’

TWO: Explosive plays were huge. Goff threw five passes of 29 or more yards. Jameson Williams had just 2 catches — one for 64, the other a 44-yard touchdown. He wasn’t alone. “It always starts with the O-line here, it does, probably most teams but for sure us. When they play well it allows us to do a lot,’’ Campbell said.

THREE: The defense made huge stops, none better than stuffing the Bears on back-to-back plays of third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 early in the second quarter. Safety Brian Branch was all over the field finishing with a sack, a forced fumble, a pass defense, two tackles for loss and six tackles. Bears QB Caleb Williams was sacked four times with Aidan Hutchinson getting first sack of the season and Branch, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Marcus Davenport also pitching in. “Just moving forward we re-established our brand of football,’’ Branch said.

FOUR: The Lions created two turnovers with a Kerby Joseph second-quarter interception that led to a Brock Wright TD catch. Earlier Branch forced a fumble with Jack Campbell recovering. Terion Arnold’s interception with 12:15 left was negated by a roughing the passer penalty. “It’s huge in this league, that’s what it’s all about getting takeaways, coach Campbell and coach Shep (DC Kelvin Sheppard), all our coaches preach that — no matter what the offense is doing the defense has to force turnovers,’’ Branch said, “We force turnovers then it gives our offense another chance to score.’’

FIVE: The offensive line settled down and was much improved from Week 1. RBs Jahmyr Gibbs (12-94 yards, 1 TD) and David Montgomery (11-57, 1 TD) got the run game in gear averaging 5.9 yards per carry – much improved over 2.1 in the Green Bay opener. Gibbs scampered 42 yards to set up another Goff-St. Brown touchdown late in the third. Goff could see the line really jell. “In particular, Tate (Ratledge) and (Christian) Mahogany as younger players were able to get last week out of the way and settle in a little bit today,’’ Goff said. “More Tate than Mahogany who had experience last year. I thought Tate played great today. I haven’t seen the tape but at least in pass pro I felt firm there, you felt strong, it felt like he was pushing downhill.’’

UP NEXT: Lions (1-1) at Baltimore Ravens (1-1), Monday, Sept. 22 at 8:15 p.m.