Jameson Williams returned the way you might expect from a two-game layoff. He made one costly error and two crucial catches in the Lions' comeback win over the Texans last week.
"We absolutely needed him," offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday.
On third and 6 early in the second quarter, Williams made a twisting grab over the middle on a pass thrown behind him to extend the Lions' first touchdown drive. It was the best hands catch of his career, until his next one.
With the Lions trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter and still searching for their rhythm on offense, Williams went up for a gutsy grab in traffic and hung onto the ball while getting sandwiched by two defenders. Goff called it "one of the better catches I've been around." Two plays later, the Lions were in the end zone and the comeback was on.
"I don’t know if I’ve seen him make that catch even in practice over the last two-and-a-half years," said Johnson. "So that was certainly encouraging to see. He’s really coming on and showing up. When you challenge him on the sidelines, he typically responds in a positive way. And we knew, particularly with the turnovers, our margin for error had gone down, so he needed to make that play for us at that time and he did.
"The level of confidence in him and his hands and his detail continues to rise.”
The challenge from Johnson to Williams came between those two catches, after Goff's fifth interception of the night. It looked like an overthrown deep ball. In reality, as Williams acknowledged Thursday, it was an under-run route. Williams should've been higher up the field, but he was "too flat" coming out of his break and Goff's pass sailed into the hands of a Texans safety. The 23-year-old went right to Johnson on the sideline and asked, "Was my angle right?"
"No, it wasn’t right, it’s not what we had talked about," Johnson told him. "But the ball’s going to come to you in the fourth quarter here and we need you to make a play."
"I just went out and responded and made the (next) grab," Williams said. "Big one for the team, move the sticks."
Williams finished with three catches on five targets for 53 yards in his return from his two-game suspension for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances. He shrugged off the praise for his catch in traffic and said, "When your number’s called, you gotta make a play, no matter the circumstances, if you’re getting hit in the front and the back."
"And it was big for us. We were making our comeback, trying to win the game, so every play gotta be made," Williams said.
Williams appreciated that the Lions thrust him back into the offense last week. He played about three quarters of the snaps and rewarded their faith in the fourth quarter.
"Big shoutout to my coaches," he said. "They trusted me to get back in the mix and just put me on the field. I felt like I was ready, they felt like I was ready and that was a big thing, too. Last time I was coming off a suspension, I was getting worked in and this time, was right back into action. I just had to be prepared."